All in all, a pretty good day for Coke. You know how those pesky Justice Department probes can weigh you down.

Via USA Today:

Coke: U.S. ends accounting investigation

By Harry R. Weber, AP Business Writer
Posted 4/18/2005

ATLANTA — Coca-Cola (KO) said Monday that the Justice Department has decided to close its two-year-old investigation into accounting irregularities at the beverage giant raised in a whistleblower lawsuit.

Separately, the company said it has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its business practices in Japan.

"We are pleased that today's settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the decision by the Department of Justice to close its investigation, mark an end to the U.S. government inquiries initiated in 2003," chief executive Neville Isdell said in a statement.

The Justice Department probe involved allegations raised in a 2003 lawsuit filed by former Coke manager Matthew Whitley, who said he was fired in retaliation for reporting to senior management allegations of fraud and accounting irregularities.

Read the rest here.

And for more on the Coke / SEC settlement, click on over to this story at the beverage giant's home-town paper, The Atlanta Business Chronicle.

-- MDT