28 March 2002 Cash-rich software giant Microsoft made even more money than stated in its last two quarters, the result of a clerical error, it says.

Unearned income for the first quarter to the end of September 2001 was restated as $2.1 billion (€2.4bn), up from $1.1 billion (€1.3bn). Unearned income for the six months to December 2001 was changed to $4.8 billion (€5.5bn) from $3.8 billion (€4.4bn).

Figures for the recognition of unearned revenue were also incorrect. These were changed to $1.9 billion (EU2.2bn), from $914 million (EU1.0bn) for the first quarter, and to $3.8 billion (EU4.4bn) from $2.9 billion (EU3.3bn) for the first half of its financial year.

Microsoft added that the mistake had not affected figures for cash from operations which remained unchanged. The world’s biggest software company, it is more profitable than the next largest 49 software companies put together.