TAL Education Settles US Accounting Charges for Inflated Revenue

TAL Education Group agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle SEC charges that the company’s internal controls failed to prevent the creation of “phony contracts” that artificially inflated 2020 revenue.

TAL overstated its net revenues by $86.1 million and its net income by $26.6 million over three quarters because of accounting control failures at a subsidiary, resulting in a restatement, according to a settlement order the Securities and Exchange Commission released late Thursday.

• The commission factored the company’s “remedial steps” into its settlement, according to the order. TAL, which is headquartered in China and incorporated ...