In an SEC filing, IBM (NYSE: IBM) says the Securities and Exchange Commission has wrapped up an investigation into how Big Blue reports “cloud computing” revenues and will not take any action. However, The Wall Street Journal notes that IBM has changed how it cites cloud revenues in earnings reports.

IBM reported on Monday that:

“On May 30, 2014, the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission informed IBM that it has concluded its investigation regarding how IBM reports cloud revenue. IBM was notified that based on the information to date, the Division of Enforcement does not intend to recommend any enforcement action by the Commission against IBM.”

The SEC launched the investigation last year, as WRAL TechWire reported at the time. IBM said it cooperated and “stood by its accounting methods,” Bloomberg news reported.

Cloud revenue is a cornerstone of IBM’s ongoing efforts to grow revenue, which has actually declined in recent quarters. Cloud computing is a big market, and IBM is investing heavily in the space with new technology, data centers and acquisitions. 

While IBM cloud revenue is growing at some 50 percent from a year ago, according to Bloomberg, Big Blue wants $7 billion in cloud-related sales and revenue by next year, the news service added.

However, the Journal pointed out some changes IBM has made.

“In the third quarter, it changed the way it described cloud, noting the percentage of its cloud revenue that was delivered as a service,” The newspaper said.

Quoting from the IBM earnings report, the Journal stressed:

“Cloud revenue up more than 70 percent year to date; Revenue in third-quarter exceeds $1 billion, of which about $460 million is delivered as a cloud service.”

Earlier reporting language was different, the paper said.

The full Bloomberg report and the Journal report are available online.

IBM employs some 7,500 people across North Carolina and operates one of its latest cloud data centers in RTP.

[IBM ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of IBM stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]