New York ? AOL Time Warner announced that about $49 million in transactions at its America Online unit may have been booked improperly, in a departure from the company’s previous assertions that its accounting was sound.

The company said this week that it was examining the transactions at America Online, whose accounting practices are being scrutinized by federal regulators.

AOL Time Warner said in a statement that the transactions in question occurred from the last quarter of 2000 through the first quarter of this year. The company said it has not made a final determination whether the accounting was proper.

AOL Time Warner’s finances were called into question last month when The Washington Post published a series of articles outlining unusual techniques the AOL division used for accounting revenue, including booking ads sold on behalf of eBay as revenue for itself.

The company did not describe the questionable transactions, but said its announcement was based on information that came to light recently.