(FORTUNE Magazine) – In 17 months as CEO of Time Warner (FORTUNE's parent), Dick Parsons has put out a lot of fires. He's made management changes, taken steps to fix AOL, and moved to reduce debt. But bookkeeping issues are still smoldering. The SEC and Justice Department are still investigating the way in which America Online accounted for deals struck with Homestore.com and PurchasePro. Now, in a seperate probe involving Time Warner's accounting of $400 million in online ad revenue from Bertelsmann, the SEC has--according to the New York Times--subpoenaed current and former Time Warner executives, including Parsons and ex-chairman Steve Case.

Some securities experts say the SEC's desire to interview the likes of Parsons signals the end of the investigation--not a search for more dirt, which may explain investors' sanguine reaction to the news. But Columbia Law School professor John Coffee wouldn't be surprised to see the feds issue sanctions or fines against the company. "The SEC doesn't want to spend this much time and then drop all this without any impact," he says.

Time Warner's best bet, says accounting watchdog Jack Cielsielski, of the Analyst's Accounting Observer, is to try to settle. That may be. But given the civil suits against Time Warner in connection with the AOL merger, settling might prove difficult. --Stephanie N. Mehta