- but everyone with awareness of this is either (1) laid off (2) scared shitless of their manager
There was an SEC investigation that could have exposed this but my understanding is that is is now under a rug.
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All someone needs to do is an audit on the refinance balances of Xerox leases (not secondary finance partner leases) where existing balances are rolled into new leases. If equipment takes a while to be delivered, which is often, many leases are rolled without adjustments to the now lower refinance balances due. Probably amounts to millions each year. But just like last time the SEC came knocking, Xerox will "vehemently deny any wrongdoing".
You’re going to need to be more specific here or keep this talk confined to the underground parking garage.
What someone needs to unravel - and it cannot be me as I fear retaliation - is that it’s not the leasing model that is corrupt. It’s the implementation and the smoke and mirrors regarding the reporting of this revenue accurately. It’s going on today.
As a long term Xerox employee, who left years ago this statement needs a bit of explanation. Leasing is a perfectly legitimate approach to business from cars to aircraft to IT equipment. You sign a contract committing to pay a fixed monthly charge for x number of months with termination clauses that ensure you still pay if you cancel before the end of the contract term. This allows a business to book an upfront sale to a Leasing finance company usually within the same ultimate holding company. Xerox's long term speciality especially in its Services business was to push the boundaries to still book the sale with more flexible terms including variable charges. Hence the SEC investigation 20 years ago after Xerox almost went into Chapter 11 when its dodgy practices were exposed. However, despite this the aggresive sales people who ultimately run the company and are paid more for upfront revenue continued pushing the boundaries and it has probably got worse under Icahn.