Smith & Nephew accused of aggressive accounting, potentially inflating profit margins by 1.7pt.

Smith & Nephew, a FTSE 100 company that manufactures artificial hips, faces accusations from investigative firm Dragoneye of using aggressive accounting to inflate profit margins. The firm claims the company may have improperly deferred costs and neglected stock write-offs, potentially raising last year's 17.5% trading profit margin by 1.7 percentage points. The company denies the allegations, and shares have dropped 6.1% since October 1.