Oracle Shares Hit Amid Report Of Former Manager Suit Over Improper Cloud Accounting

Shares of Oracle Corporation

were hit after its former senior finance manager sued the company for allegedly terminating her for complaining about improper accounting practices in Oracle's cloud services business, according to a report on Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oracle-lawsuit-whistleblower-idUSKCN0YN604 Shares of the business software maker fell 2.38 percent in the pre-market hours Thursday to $39.30. The shares closed Wednesday's trading at $40.26. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Svetlana Blackburn accused upper management of trying to push her to "fit square data into round holes" to make Oracle Cloud Services' results look better. According to the report, "Blackburn said her bosses instructed her to add millions of dollars of accruals for expected business "with no concrete or foreseeable billing to support the numbers," and said executives above her added accruals on their own." Incidentally, Blackburn said she was terminated on last Oct. 15, just one month after the alleged wrongdoing began, and two months after she received a positive performance review. "We don't agree with the allegations and intend to vigorously defend the matter," the report said quoting Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger. V.J. Chetty, a lawyer for Blackburn, declined additional comment, the report said. Blackburn's lawsuit also reportedly accused Oracle of violating the anti-retaliation provisions of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance and Dodd-Frank financial reform laws. It seeks punitive damages, double back pay, and other remedies.