A withdrawal from the Nasdaq would hurt the company's ability to attract investors in the world's biggest economy. More than 27 percent of NEC shareholders are non-Japanese.

"It's not positive for NEC as a delisting may hurt foreign investors' trust in the company," Naoki Fujiwara, who helps oversee $3.24 billion at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. "It will have little effect on Japanese investors though."

Shares of NEC fell 2.5 percent to 541 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The stock slid 4.9 percent this year, compared with a 4.6 percent drop in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. The ADRs, equivalent to one share, rose 3 percent to $4.87, or 559 yen, yesterday on the Nasdaq.

"`The suspension will have little effect over our operations," said Hideyuki Nakajima, a NEC spokesman. "We've taken all possible measures to protect ADR holders and we'll keep improving our accounting practices."

NEC missed a deadline yesterday to submit a report with the required analysis of software, maintenance and service sales under U.S. accounting standards. The information is needed for the auditor to finish consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.

But many companies have hesitated amid concerns about XBRL's maturity and implementation costs.

Cox said the U.S. XBRL group has completed all its work on developing data tags for U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, which represented "the removal of the last major obstacle that stood behind the world and interactive data."

At a news conference, Mark Bolgiano, president of XBRL US Inc, handed Cox a tiny data card with the code for thousands of tags for volumes of U.S. accounting classifications.

While the data tags are being reviewed by major accounting firms and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Cox said the SEC and XBRL groups would work on promoting the format.

Outstanding American depository receipts account for around 2.9 percent of NEC's total issued shares. This is the only latest development in a slew of accounting troubles for the electronics conglomerate.

Last year, NEC unnerved investors by restating its earnings three times. It had to correct past earnings after it discovered an employee had inflated sales figures, and then suddenly switched to Japanese accounting rules from U.S. rules. It later had to correct its figures due to human error.

NEC, whose businesses include IT systems consulting, said it was not able complete a report at the request of independent auditor Ernst & Young ShinNihon to demonstrate pricing of maintenance services was fair.

Its deadline of September 25 had already been extended twice.

NEC senior vice president Takao Ono said he did not know why only NEC appeared to have a problem with filing such a report in contrast with other computer firms.

"U.S. firms may be more used to U.S. commercial customs ... we're not sure why," he told a news conference.

U.S. auditors have been scrutinizing software contracts, demanding companies prove with statistical evidence that they are not posting profits early from bulk contracts comprising hardware, software and maintenance.

Ono also acknowledged there was a risk of lawsuits relating to a delisting.

"These accounting issues raise doubts about NEC's corporate governance," said Kei Oikawa, an electronics analyst at Yasuda Asset Management.

"This has been largely factored into its share price but overall the company is not an attractive stock," he said, adding that while some parts of its businesses were doing better, earnings woes at its semiconductor unit had yet to be resolved.

NEC said its consolidated financial statements under Japanese accounting rules are current and are not affected by the announcement.

NEC's shares have fallen 20 percent since it said it would switch to Japanese accounting rules in October last year, which compares with a 2.8 percent decline for benchmark Nikkei average in the same period. On Friday, NEC ended down 1.8 percent at 547 yen in Tokyo prior to the announcement.

In March, the SEC filed civil fraud charges against ex-CEO Frank Dunn and other executives — including former Chief Financial Officer Douglas Beatty and former controller Michael Gollogly — alleging they directed a so-called earnings management fraud to manipulate the company's financial reports.

In the latest charges, the commission alleges that from the second half of 2002 through January 2003, Hamilton, Johnson, Kinney and Taylor "all determined that their business units held tens of millions of dollars in excess reserves."

"The four finance vice presidents did not immediately release those excess reserves as required under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, but instead maintained them for earnings management purposes," the SEC said in its complaint Wednesday.

The regulator said the former executives set aside $44 million in additional excess reserves to lower Nortel's consolidated earnings and bring them in line with internal and market expectations.

The changes helped erase Nortel's profit for the fourth quarter of 2002 and helped produce a loss instead.

The SEC alleges that Dunn, Beatty and Gollogly directed the improper companywide release of about $500 million of excess reserves in the first and second quarters of 2003 to inflate earnings and pay bonuses.

U.S. regulators allege the executives aimed to "create the false appearance" that the company had returned to profitability after three years of red ink so they could pay themselves and others bonuses, which were based on the company hitting certain financial targets.

The commission is seeking unspecified fines, a permanent injunction, repayment of money with interest and an order barring the executives from being officers and directors of any public company.

Nortel, which once accounted for one-third of the total valuation on the Toronto Stock Exchange, ran into financial headwinds around 2000 and lost billions of dollars of value.

Dunn was fired along with Beatty and Gollogly in 2004 after allegations of accounting irregularities at the company.

The Ontario Securities Commission also plans a hearing into allegations of financial misconduct and negligence against Dunn and others named in the SEC filing.

The judge, Robert G. Mahoney, said the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 did not give the SEC authority to charge an individual who no longer is an officer or director of an SRO.

SEC enforcement staff members, who have appealed the adverse ruling to the full commission, called it an “unduly narrow interpretation” of the law.

“If left undisturbed, the [administrative law judge’s] ruling would lead to the absurd result that officers and directors of SROs could evade the commission’s authority through resignation,” the appeal said.

What’s relevant in the case, according to SEC staff members, is when the alleged transgressions occurred, not Mr. Sodano’s status when the charges were brought.

The ruling is “absurd,” said Bill Singer, a securities lawyer with Stark & Stark of Lawrenceville, N.J., and a former Amex lawyer. “It points out the hypocrisy embedded in the SRO system, which retains for two years jurisdiction [over individual] brokers.

“What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander,” he added.

In his decision, Mr. Mahoney said the section of the exchange act that covers SRO officials “is unambiguous on its face, referring to the officers and directors of an SRO only in the present [tense].”

Legal technicality

After SEC enforcers brought formal charges against him last March, Mr. Sodano argued that, based on legislative history, Congress did not want the SEC to have authority over former SRO officials.

In 1987, Congress amended both the exchange act and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to allow for a permanent bar against individual brokers or advisers, regardless of whether they were registered currently. At the same time, Congress did not likewise amend sections in those laws applying specifically to officers and directors at SROs, Mr. Sodano argued.

Mr. Mahoney ruled that when Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section, “it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally.”

SEC spokesman John Nester said he was not aware of any attempt by the agency or anyone in Congress to change the laws. Calls to the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee were not returned.

Unfair treatment alleged

Mr. Sodano’s lawyer, William Baker III, a partner in the Washington office of Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins LLP, declined to comment. But in a filing with the SEC last month, Mr. Baker said the SEC enforcement team “grossly exaggerates” the violations and “ignores the extensive efforts” Mr. Sodano made to bring the exchange into compliance with order-handling rules.

The filing said that the SEC has not filed any enforcement actions against New York Stock Exchange officers for similar problems. The Amex itself settled related charges last March.

Mr. Sodano was hired by NASD chief executive Frank G. Zarb in June 1997 as the NASD’s chief financial officer. Today, Mr. Sodano is dean of the Frank G. Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

J. Kerry Clayton, Assurant's interim president and chief executive officer, said "We remain focused on disciplined capital management to assure value for our shareholders. We will continue to make investments that support the organic growth of our businesses and continue to evaluate opportunities to make strategic acquisitions in our existing core business segments or in new specialty areas."

In August the company repurchased 1.3 million shares at a cost of $65.5 million, for a 2007 total of 5.7 million shares at a cost of $312.6 million. The current authorization, which was approved on November 10, 2006, has $261 million remaining, although the current program has ended as noted above. Total shares outstanding are 118 million as of August 31, 2007. Since 2004, Assurant has repurchased 26 million shares for $1.1 billion.

Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets. Its four key businesses -- Assurant Solutions; Assurant Specialty Property; Assurant Health; and Assurant Employee Benefits -- have partnered with clients who are leaders in their industries and have built leadership positions in a number of specialty insurance market segments worldwide. Assurant, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AIZ. Assurant has over $25 billion in assets and $7 billion in annual revenue. www.assurant.com