Forest companies report questioned by leading Swedish business newspaper

Forest Company evaluates the woods too high in their reports according to the business magazine SvD. At weaker quarter, forest companies assess their forest resources and exploit the forest to clean up quarterly results according to analysts.  According to analysts SvD Näringsliv been in contact with it is common that companies use their forest assets to report higher individual results, for example, during a quarter in which they have high recurring costs. The analysts suggest that companies may give a false picture of their performance. -The question is how the forest can jump up in value a single quarter, says financial analyst Peter Malmqvist to the newspaper.

The newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, examplifies with forest company Holmen. First, the company made a clear correction of their forests during the last quarter of 2010, and in 2007. Similar accounting techniques could be seen in SCA's interim report in 2007, when it wrote down the value of the forest by 5 billion. While the company had restructuring costs and writedowns of as much. Even Lars Kjellberg, forestry analyst at Credit Suisse, question the companies' valuation of forest. The article emphasizes the respondents that there are forest companies who are doing wrong, but the auditors who accept the method.