How widespread is options backdating?

A new study has found that nearly 30 percent of public companies have backdated options and that 13.6 percent of all options given to key executives were either backdated or similarly manipulated, according to The New York Times. So, there's a lot of work for the special task force set up by the U.S. attorney in San Francisco. There seems to be two areas of concern: The 1990s dot-com boom and the opportunity created by 9/11. The study also suggests that smaller auditors were more likely to be associated with the practice. But two big firms--PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG--were associated with a lower percentage of manipulation.

> See the article.
> And here's one from CNNMoney.com.