The Securities and Exchange Commission $($SEC$)$ announced on April $18$th$,2022,$ that Rollins Inc. consented to pay $$8$ million in response to accusations that it engaged in improper accounting practices with the$$objective of boosting$$its quarterly earnings per share $($EPS$)$ in order to satisfy research analysts' consensus forecasts.

The SEC concluded that Rollins, a national supplier of pest control services, implemented unreliable reductions to their accounting reserves in values adequate to enable the company to round up recorded EPS to the next penny in both of the first quarters of $2016($i$.$e$.,$ from $$0\mathrm{.}12$ per share to $$0\mathrm{.}15)$ and $2017($i$.$e$.,$ from $$0\mathrm{.}20$ per share to $$0\mathrm{.}25).$ According to the SEC, the company's CFO, Paul Edward Northen, was in charge of$$the erroneous accounting changes without carrying out an evaluation of the proper accounting rules under generally accepted accounting principles $($GAAP$)$ and without properly following$$the rationale for those entries in the books. The SEC additionally discovers$$that Rollins recorded$$other accounting entries that could not be verified by sufficient proof throughout several additional quarters from $2016$ to $2018.$

The SEC determined that Rollins and Northen violated Sections $17($a$)(2)$ and $(3)$ of the Securities Act of $1933,$ as well as the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of $1934$ governing the disclosure of financial information, accounts and records, and internal control mechanisms. The SEC$$further alleged that Northen infringed Section $13($b$)(5)$ and Rule $13$b$2-1$ of the Exchange Act, leading Rollins to be in breach of the Exchange Act. Without conceding or contesting the SEC's allegations, Rollins and Northen made a commitment to stop violating the accused provisions in the future and pay civil penalties of $$8$ million and $$100,000,$ respectively.