When Lucent recently announced that its quarterly numbers would fall well short of expectations, the stock dropped 40 percent.

Three quarterly numbers issued during the 1971-1972 academic year under the title California Pelican.

Literally, the banks were owned from one set of quarterly numbers to the next.

"I'm going to ignore the quarterly numbers and run my business for the long run."

"It's never had to hit quarterly numbers like other public companies."

"You can't do that stuff if you are a public company and have to make quarterly numbers."

That would not, of course, make faking the quarterly numbers justifiable.

"My instinct is that individual quarterly numbers don't give you much sense about what's happening in an economy," he said.

While the company's quarterly numbers compared well with the same quarter a year ago, analysts suggested they showed a slowing on the previous three month period.

Then, eager to meet his quarterly numbers and to increase his stock price, he considers creative accounting.