FOSTER &lt;FWC> UNIT AUDIT REVEALS DISCREPANCIES
  Foster Wheeler Corp &lt;FWC> said an
  audit of its Stearns Airport Equiment Co Inc unit, revealed
  "substantial discrepancies" in Stearns accounts that may
  require material adjustments to previously announce
  consolidated results of the company and its subsidiaries.
      Foster said certain Stearn officers and senior management
  made Stearn's operations appear more profitable than they were
  by improperly recording job costs. It said Stearn's president
  and controller had resigned. A Foster spokesman said he did not
  know the names of the president and controller, and could not
  immediately comment on the release.
      Foster said the amount involved in the "discrepancy" is
  about 13.7 mln dlrs before taxes or about 8.2 mln dlrs net
  after tax due to an "improper recording of job costs over a
  period of several years and continuing through part of the
  first quarter of 1987."
      Stearns is a unit of Foster's Conergic Corp subsidiary.
  The company said the impact on its results for 1987 was not
  "likely to be significant" but the amount to be charged to
  prior periods had not been determined.
      Foster reported after tax earnings of 28 mln dlrs, 26 mln
  dlrs and 35.4 mln dlrs for 1986, 1985, and 1984, respectively.
      Stearns, based in Crowley, Texas, makes airport baggage
  conveyor equipment and passenger loading bridges.
      Foster, a diversified international concern with 27
  subsidiaries operating worldwide, is based in Livingston, New
  Jersey. Its reported revenues for the period ended December 26,
  1986 of 1.3 billion dlrs.
      The company said a detailed audit and investigation is
  continuing. A company spokesman declined to comment further on
  the investigation.
  

