AOL may have improperly recognized some revenues

NEW YORK -- AOL Time Warner Inc. acknowledged Wednesday that it may have improperly recognized revenues from three transactions at its America Online unit, whose accounting practices are being scrutinized by federal regulators.

AOL Time Warner said in a statement that the transactions in question totaled approximately $49 million occurring over a period of a year and a half. The company said it was still examining those and other transactions at AOL and has not yet made a determination on if they were accounted for properly.

AOL Time Warner's finances have been called into question after a series of articles appeared in The Washington Post last month detailing unusual techniques the AOL division used for accounting for revenues.