Dell Inc said, on Friday, that the computer maker completed a yearlong investigation into accounting errors and admitted executives manipulated financial results to meet quarterly earnings goals.

Dell said it would restate results between fiscal 2003 and the first quarter of 2007. While its accounting remains under scrutiny by the U S Securities and Exchange Commission, the end of the internal probe may help Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell focus on reviving sales.

Dell, the second-largest personal-computer maker after Hewlett-Packard Co., will cut earnings by a total of $50 million to $150 million. Sales in each year will be lowered by less than 1 percent. Dell’s Chief Financial Officer Don Carty said on a conference call that the restatements won't have a material effect on the company’s current results.

Dell began its probe in August 2006, a year after the SEC contacted the company about accounting flaws. Dell found that employees manipulated results to meet quarterly earnings goals, sometimes at the request of senior officials.

Remedial Action

Some teams changed accruals and reserves, estimates of expenses or losses that have occurred and haven't yet been paid, to meet quarterly goals. Some officials didn't report complete information and purposefully gave incorrect or incomplete data to auditors, Dell said.

Earlier, on Thursday, Dell said that the SEC probe is continuing and the Justice Department also is investigating the same.

Dell is also firing some workers and reassigning or reprimanding others. The company will impose financial penalties, which it didn't specify, and will increase supervision and training.