The US Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday it charged Halliburton Co, formerly headed by US Vice President Dick Cheney, with failing to disclose a 1998 accounting change.
The SEC released the announcement on its Web site, then withdrew the item minutes later and declined to provide further comment.
The item said the SEC had also charged two unnamed, former officers of the Houston-based oil services company.
Halliburton last year agreed to pay $6 million to settle some class-action lawsuits that concerned accounting practices, which involved cost overruns on construction projects that occurred in 1998, while Cheney was chief executive officer.
The accounting practices led to an SEC probe that the company disclosed in 2002.
Halliburton could not immediately be reached for comment.