Fraud Examination 5th Edition by Steve Albrecht,Chad Albrecht,Conan Albrecht, Mark Zimbelman

Exercise 43

Qwest is the dominant local telephone company in 14 states and the owner of an international fiber-optic network. In 2002, the company was investigated by the SEC for not including certain expense items related to its merger with U.S. West, among other issues.
1. Why would the SEC be concerned if Qwest had not included certain expense items in a merger