Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Tuesday it will reduce its profit for the first half of 2005 by about $220 million, citing computer-related accounting errors.

Shares of Freddie Mac (down $1.12 to $60.12,) fell 1.8 percent in morning trading in New York.

Net income for the first half of 2005 dropped to $1.4 billion, compared with $1.6 billion previously reported by the company Aug. 31.

The lowered net income figure came after the company corrected miscalculated interest accruals for mortgage-related securities.

The error comes as the company works to resume regular financial reporting after an accounting scandal in 2003.

"We've made enormous strides in fixing our financial infrastructure but, as we have previously disclosed, the effort is not yet complete," said Martin Baumann, Freddie Mac's chief financial officer.

Baumann said the company can still return to regular and timely financial reporting in early 2006.

Freddie Mac said in a statement its timetable for beginning to register its securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission is not likely to be "significantly" changed. The company said it expects to release fourth quarter and full-year 2005 results and begin filing monthly capital reports to regulators no later than the end of March 2006.

Freddie Mac, like sibling Fannie Mae (down $0.95 to $46.53, Research), operates under congressional charter to buy mortgages from lenders and support housing markets.

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