The company's operating earnings, which exclude the charge for work force cuts, rose 3 percent, to $4.3 billion, or $3.91 a share.
Including special items, mainly a $22.2 million gain from the sale of four regional newspapers and nine telephone directories and a $3.8 million charge for work force reductions, net income rose 25percentto to $75 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with $60 million, or 34 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.
Mr McCausland said a range of issues had been raised with regard to overcharging, double-charging and "even charging for work that could not have been carried out" by more than one contractor over a number of different districts.
This means Yonkers can now bill Liberia for taxes, and can include on the bill charges for work already done on the property.
The state is suing the Sears, Roebuck & Company, claiming it cheated hundreds of customers at its New Jersey auto repair centers by charging for work that was never done or was unnecessary.
The Fleishman-Hillard public relations agency, owned by the Omnicom Group, has agreed to a settlement valued at $5.7 million with the City of Los Angeles to end a lawsuit that charged the agency with deliberately overbilling for services as well as charging for work not performed.
It warned of poor quality work, cash deposits disappearing, overcharging, and charging for work not done.
The most prevalent form of misconduct is the practice of simply charging for work done poorly, or not done at all, a HuffPost review found.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to keep tabs on thousands of contractors hired to manage more than 1 million foreclosed homes, possibly exposing the mortgage giants to double billing or charging for work that was never done, according to an alarming Federal Housing Finance Agency report.
