Geez, give someone an aircraft or two and they never let you live it down. It's been a month and a half since Apple's Board of Directors presented Steve with the gift that keeps on giving-- a Gulfstream V jet-- and that teensy token of appreciation is still making headlines. If they had just tossed the guy a wad of cash instead, no one would have even blinked, but they asked themselves what they could get for the Steve that has everything, came up with a prezzie that's both practical and attractive, and suddenly the whole world's in a tizzy over Steve's new jet. C'mon, folks, it's not like they gave him an island, or a small country, or anything.

Apparently the latest controversy concerning the Jobs jet involves Apple's classification of the $90 million it spent to buy the thing and soften Steve's tax blow. Apple listed that sizeable chunk of change as a "non-recurring expense." That sounds about right to us, unless the Board plans to add to Steve's personal air force every time a Macworld Expo rolls around; sure, that'd speed up Steve's plans for world domination, but frankly, we just don't see the Board frittering away Apple's cash on regular jet bonuses for the iCEO. The thing is, though, from an accounting standpoint, employee bonuses are typically classified as compensation-- a "recurring" event. So according to the San Jose Mercury News, the question on the lips of analysts everywhere is this: did Apple misclassify the jet in a deliberate attempt to beat the Street when the quarterly results were announced? If the jet had been listed as a recurring expense, Apple would have reported only an $88 million profit last quarter-- well below the analyst consensus. It's even possible that the Board allocated $90 million as a bonus for Steve and then went shopping for something to spend it on, with the express goal of being able to list that money as a non-recurring event.

So is the jet recurring or non-recurring? The debate rages on. At least some analysts think that Apple was perfectly justified in how it listed the expense, provided that Apple doesn't make a habit of throwing big, extravagant gifts at Steve on a regular basis. Says Lou Mazzuchelli of Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co., "They won't be doing this again. How would you top it? Give him an island? A small country?" Er... Hmm. Maybe we'll reserve judgment until we see what next January brings...