Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (HCSG) Accused of Misrepresenting Its Financials

According to the complaint against the company for alleged violations of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 between April 11, 2017 and March 4, 2019, after many years of purported growth and strong earnings by Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (HCSG), an article issued on Seeking Alpha on March 22, 2017, suggested that the company engaged in "earnings management" and noted that there is a pattern of "strategic rounding" of quarterly earnings per share for "every single quarter over the past 11 years."  According to the article, this aggressive accounting increased the exposure to restatement risk, enforcement proceedings, and securities fraud claims. Subsequently, the company downplayed the article and continued to report positive financial results.  The complaint alleges that in November 2017, Healthcare Services received a letter from the SEC regarding an inquiry into earnings per share calculation practices and requesting information and documents relating to its earnings per share rounding and reporting practices.  Then, in March 2018, the SEC requested documents explaining the Company's earnings calculations.  On March 9, 2019, the company revealed facts surrounding the SEC investigation and that it had authorized outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation into matters related to the SEC investigation. The investigation was purportedly completed by March 18, 2019, but the company has not disclosed the findings.