Accounting Faux Pas Costs EMC $441,000

Des Moines, Iowa-based property/casualty carrier EMC Insurance Group Inc. announced restated earnings for the third quarter and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2004, due to an error in the calculation of investment income for the third quarter of 2004.

This error was caused by an overstatement of accrued interest income on one municipal fixed maturity security. The restatement resulted in a reduction of $441,000 in the previously reported third quarter investment income and a reduction of $418,000, or 4 cents per share, in the previously reported third quarter net income. The overstatement of accrued interest income was caused by a manual input error on the yield of this one security. The company currently out-sources the investment accounting function, but will be bringing this function in-house effective Jan. 1, 2005.

Operating income was 10 cents per share for the third quarter compared to operating income of 49 cents per share for the third quarter of 2003. Operating income for the nine months was 92 cents per share compared to $1.25 per share for the same period in 2003.