31.   All publicly held companies must follow the rules of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, a privately financed group based in Norwalk, Conn.

32.   But critics said that a drug company could follow up on the initial contact with personalized letters to patients.

33.   But Daimler-Benz sidestepped that effort by agreeing to restate its books, and Tuesday Donaldson said he expected more German companies would follow.

34.   But analysts said General Mills had little choice and that other companies would follow.

35.   But even if a company follows that recommendation, the incentive to steal corporate data appears to be increasing at an alarming rate.

36.   But it also cautions that not all companies follow that practice.

37.   But it appears that many companies are following the decades-old practice of trying to maintain good relations with the administration in power by contributing.

38.   But Reichman said it was not clear if the companies ever followed up.

39.   But the company has followed a pattern of accumulating debt to acquire new companies and then selling off its older assets.

40.   But when the electricity markets around the United States were being deregulated, the companies followed clearly divergent paths.