The Ontario Securities Commission has launched a probe of Research In Motion’s stock option practices. An OSC spokesperson said the review was launched in early October, which is not long after the company announced it would have to restate past finan­cials because of its options accounting.

Another tech company is having diffi­culties with their options accounting. The reason is clear: the preva­lence of stock options as compen­sation in cash-strapped startups.

RIM revealed Oct. 28 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an “informal inquiry” into the way the company granted stock options. RIM did not disclose infor­mation about any similar OSC probe.

And the SEC had announced an inves­ti­gation over a week earlier! Seems to me that the two major commis­sions in North America should have been commu­ni­cation between them.

This whole options backdating thing seems to me like it’s something you would intuitively know is against the rules, isn’t it?