S&P Eyes Beazer Homes

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has placed its BB-minus corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings on Beazer Homes USA Inc. on CreditWatch with negative implications, citing the company's delay of its third-quarter 10-Q filing.Beazer attributed the delay to "the discovery (by independent counsel and accountants retained by Beazer's audit committee) of possible inappropriate accounting for overaccruing certain reserves and accrued liabilities related primarily to land development and home construction costs," S&P reported. The rating agency said the CreditWatch placements "also consider the additional pressure and distractions Beazer's management faces on a number of nonoperational fronts, including separate pending investigations by the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Western District of North Carolina, during a very challenging period for all homebuilders." S&P can be found online at http://www.standardandpoors.com.