The purpose of this article analysis is to identify situations that may lead to unethical practices and behavior in accounting. Brooke Corporation and founder Robert Orr are an example of how Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) laws have not been as effective as most want to believe as based on the article, “Eight Years after the Fact is SOX working? A Look at the Brooke Corporation” by Beth Hazels. Brooke Corporation was, “once the largest franchisors of property and casualty insurance in the United States” (Hazel, p.19) until both company and founder filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Robert Orr and Brooke Corporation committed fraud on their financial statements as well as misappropriated commissions and funds due to their franchisee agents, customers and lenders during their 24-year reign of deceit. Lawsuits alleging anywhere from “fraud and civil racketeering to business valuations and financing were brought up against Brooke corporation and most were dropped. Brooke was also in violation of several SOX laws that have yet to be raised against them” (Hazel, p.23).…
The Medicines Company Case Write-Up: Terence Cho, Felipe Duarte, Aleks Loiko, Robert Shaw, and James Wang…
In 2002, after accounting fraud at Enron and WorldCom, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley to establish a system of federal oversight of corporate accounting practices in response to corporate accounting scandals, and restore stakeholders’ confidence. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that corporations take “greater responsibility for their decisions and to provide leadership based on ethical principles”. For instance, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes the CEOs and CFOs personally liable for the credibility and accuracy of their companies’ financial statements.…
Some investors that are misled lost chunk if not all of their investments. The public, investors, employees, pension holders and politicians were so outraged and wanted to why Enron's failings were not spotted earlier. Enron did not do these all alone, they have accomplice in the name of another giant accounting/auditing company called Arthur Andersen where they helped the firm overlooked significant debts that are not the Enron’s financial statement. They knew that Enron was over its head but they let the company conceal its debt over a long period of that which eventually led to the downfall of the company. The highlight of this section is that Enron’s top managements self interest, greed led to presenting the investors and board of directors misleading financial statements. Because of their greed and self interest, a crime was committed that led to prosecution of some of the Enron’s top managers. For example, Former Enron executive Michael Kopper pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. While Andrew Fastow Former CFO was charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. To avoid another Enron, the US Congress passed a law called Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002…
U.S Securities and Exchange Commission. (2003, March 20). SEC Charges HealthSouth Corp., CEO Richard Scrushy With $1.4 Billion Accounting Fraud. Sec.gov. Retrieved February 16, 2013 from http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr18044.htm.…
Chapter 5: the Sarbanes- Oxley act of 2002 involved the public anger that started when Enron, WorldCom, and other big companies scandals. This is when there was support for white collar crime when it came to accounting standards. Under the law of federal sentencing rules to make sure that white collar criminals are being punished. (Barnes, 2012). 1. For someone to alter or get rid of documents and there intensions to obstruct or effect the crime/case. 2. The CEO (chief executive officer) and the CFO (chief financial officer) must clarify that repots have been submitted to the SEC (securities and exchange commission.) it is a crime if the CEO and CFO make a report that is false. 3 CEO and CFO must reimburse the company for any raises and if…
The Sarbanes –Oxley Act of 2002 has increased integrity of business dealings and financial reporting. Over the past decade, there were a huge number of corporate fraud cases. Companies were creating fraudulent accounting statements. In order to accomplish massive fraud, fictitious sales, inflated inventories, and phony profits were invented by corporate schemers. Companies such as Sunbeam, Waste Management, Rite-Aid and some others were some of the earlier cases before getting to the larger scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Qwest and Global Crossing.…
Hello, my name is Grant Markley, and today I would like to take a few minutes of your time to discuss the affordable healthcare act, better known as obamacare. There is a great deal of misinformation regarding the act, which has lead to many misconceptions of it. In this speech I intend to shed light on the act and its provisions in relation to our current healthcare system.…
Tyco's stock price began to fall when they reported a 24% decrease in earnings. In evaluating the market observers comment is that it makes you question what is next? When a CEO steps down for tax evasion it make you wonder what else is behind the curtain. When the leader of a huge company like Tyco displays unethical practices in his person life what has he done in his business life. How much trouble is the company really in? This would make investors step away from the company until it became apparent that nothing is wrong with the company.…
The evolution of healthcare in the United States has a unique system of health care delivery compared to other developed countries around the world (Shi, & Singh, 2015). Almost all other developed countries have a universal health insurance programs in which the government plays a dominant role. Most of the citizens in these country are entitled to receive health care services that include routine and basic health care. Here in the United States, the Affordable Care Act has expanded health insurance, but it still falls short of achieving universal coverage. Besides insurance, adequate access to health care services and health care costs at the both the individual and national levels continue to confound academics, policy makers, and politicians…
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law follows a century of debate over what role the government should play in helping people in the United States afford medical care. A look at the issue through the years:…
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the aspects of the WorldCom accounting scandal and the effects that this scandal had on the accounting world as we know it. We will discuss the corporate culture at WorldCom and how it contributed to the accounting fraud, how the CEO’s desire to be the #1 stock on Wall Street contributed to the fraud, pressures on accountants to book and release accruals to meet expectations, pros and cons of whistleblowing, and the creditability of the accounting profession when corporate fraud is revealed.…
Stephen Richards manipulated Computer Associate’s quarter end cutoff to better align results with market expectations. Richards failed to take the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) into consideration without realizing the implications of his actions. Richard’s actions boosted Computer Associates reported earnings, by employing overly aggressive accounting practices. Exhibit three states, “within the accrual accounting system, manager have significant discretion with their firms’ accounting choices. Management has the ability to make choices that can opportunistically lead to higher or lower reported earnings” (A Letter from Prison page 14). Richard’s addresses this managerial flexibility in a question asked by Eugene explaining that the lines between legal and illegal became very blurry. The seriousness of Richard’s actions landed him seven years in the Taft Federal Correctional Institution in California. Though we are only speaking of the revenue being recognized two or three days early or two to three days late, the actions were illegal and misleading to shareholders. Richard’s knew of the wrongdoings, by him self and other upper level management, and chose not to report it, even though he was in the position to do so.…
When the Arthur Andersen LLP/Enron scandal surfaced in 2001, there was much confusion as to whom committed what crime and how many employees were actually involved. After the facts and criminal charges were final, the sequence of events makes sense; the union of two companies, the rise of the participating executives, and finally the end of the money ride. The leaders of both companies used dishonesty to make an abundant amount of money and gain power status (Thomas 2002). Christopher Bergland said it best when he wrote, “Karma is a boomerang and the long-term shame and anxiety of cheating will ultimately negate the short-term gains of victory,” . This definitely held true for the employees who were disgraced at the conclusion of the legal proceedings; they may have had more money than they needed, but they ultimately lost in the end.…
According to the article written by Castellano the phrase “tone at the top” easily relates to this case. It relates really well when it says that when the CEOs will need to carefully check the data to assure that the statements are accurate, and that they must also give considerable thought to the corporate culture they create (CASTELLANO, 2004). I believe that this will, in fact, impact the company a bit more. It may be a bad example since an executive vice president did do the fraud in this case, but overall when a company’s management follows their own internal controls, it sends a strong message to all of its employees about the importance of internal controls. Now when the president did request the involvement of the North American Ethics Committee and asked the company human resource attorney to be involved in this meeting, by doing this he showed his employees now one is above the law, even executive vice…