Weatherford hires Parent for chief tax role

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Weatherford hires Parent for chief tax role

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Weatherford, the oilfield services and equipment company, which has been trying to rectify serious tax accounting problems for the last two years, has a new head of tax.

James Parent joined the company on July 1 from his previous role as vice president of tax reporting for Tyco International, where he had worked from 2006 until last month. Before that he was with PwC for 13 years. He is a certified public accountant and also has a law degree.

Weatherford announced in March 2011 that it would have to restate its earnings between 2007 and 2010 because of tax mistakes that would cost more than $500 million. The company blamed inadequate staffing, subpar tax advising within the company and poor internal review procedures.

A year later the company told investors that they should not rely on previous years’ results because the work to fix its financial reporting problems had not been completed. Then in March, it announced its chief financial officer and vice president for tax would be leaving.

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