GMH Fires CFO, Plans Restatement

GMH Communities Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Newtown Square, Pa., has announced the firing of its chief financial officer and says it expects to restate certain previously reported financial results.The REIT said Bradley W. Harris has been terminated as CFO and replaced by Dennis J. O'Leary, who was named interim CFO. The expected restatements are due chiefly to adjustments involving the expensing of certain expenditures related to student housing properties and the timing of the recognition of previously reported revenues and expenses, the company said. "While the anticipated adjustments to prior periods do not affect our year-end cash position, they are essential to a meaningful comparison of our quarterly and year-end results for future periods on a [generally accepted accounting principles] basis," said Gary M. Holloway Sr., GMH's president and chief executive officer. Mr. Holloway said an independent counsel report by the REIT's audit committee said no evidence had been found that anyone had intentionally instructed the company's accounting department to falsify financial information. The company also said there would be a further delay in the filing of its annual financial report for 2005. The REIT can be found online at http://www.gmhcommunities.com.