Inquiry comes as networking company looks to improve sales The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked networking equipment provider Riverstone Networks to voluntarily hand over information related to its accounting practices, the company said in a statement released Friday.The SEC also informed Riverstone that a formal investigation on the same topic could be launched. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said that it intends to fully cooperate with the SEC request.No one from the company was immediately available to comment further on the matter Friday morning. Riverstone, which provides carrier class switches and routers, is the latest in a string of technology companies whose accounting practices have come under government scrutiny. The SEC is currently investigating AOL Time Warner, software vendor i2 Technologies and others, and just recently settled with networking vendor Enterasys.News of the inquiry comes as Riverstone is looking to improve lackluster sales, having just reported a wider-than-expected loss for the fourth-quarter of 2002, and is in the process of hunting for a new chief executive officer (CEO). Earlier this week, the company named current CEO Romulus Pereira as chairman, but said he would remain acting CEO until a replacement was found.Shares of Riverstone (RSTN) traded down 1.97 percent to $1.49 Friday morning. Technology Industry