First some answers on a not so serious note:

1. Make an estimate, then multiply by 2, divide by 0.134263 and take the square root after adding Pi times the estimate times 12.345

2. Use a dart board and get some friends together to change the numbers to very high 8 figures. The one person that hits the same estimate range on the dart board 3 times is the closest to the estimate.

3. Take a wild swing and at the end of the report, cite the analyst firm IMTSU 2006 (I Made This Stuff Up).

There are 3 portions to the cost of resolving the options backdating issue:

1. Tangible costs - Regulatory fines and expenses - Internal investigation fees - Audit investigation fees - Documentation & restatement fees - Back tax dues and penalties and interest - Share holder lawsuits: Settlement fees, Defense fees

2. Intangible costs - Market capitalization loss - Employee turnover (not easy to guesstimate, but rest assured there will be some) - Internal & external communication expenses - (If delisted): stock appreciation opportunity costs

3. Variable expenses - Reduced revenue from customer becoming nervous about purchasing products

For the 3 companies we have worked with estimating $100 Million for a $3-5 Billion market capitalization in Tangible costs alone is on the average side.

http://blog.vangal.com

Mukund Mohan

Mukund Mohan is an expert in stock option backdting and head of Vangal. He was head of product marketing for Mercury responsible for the direction and customer success of the company?s Application Management solutions. Mukund is a frequently requested speaker at conferences and events including Gartner IT Expo, ITSMF, Mercury World and Interop. Prior to Mercury, he was Vice President of Operations at Conslient, a software company focused on process automation. In this role, he managed a team of sales and services personnel and was responsible for customer success. In addition, he held product and management positions at Ariba and Asera and began his career at Cisco Systems.

Mukund seves on the board of advisors of iConclude and Auptyma.

Mukund studied at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County pursuing a master?s degree in computer science and holds a bachelor?s degree in engineering and computer science from the University of Mysore in India.