Q 1 Explain the nature of accounting fraud? A1. Background: The origin of WorldCom can be traced to the breakup of AT&T in 1983. The company began as Long Distance Discount Services Inc during 1983. LDD name was changed to WorldCom in 1995. To build the economies of scale that were critical success factor in long distance market it was imperative for WorldCom to grow its available volume off bandwidth as it lowered the per unit costs. Also the Telecommunication act of 1996 permitted long
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Examining a Business Failure: WorldCom WorldCom was one of several large companies that failed because of inadequate organizational leadership‚ fraud‚ conspiracy‚ falsifying documents‚ and embezzlement. WorldCom has been classified as being “one of the biggest corporate scandals in Unites States history” (Zekany‚ 2004‚ p. 101). In 2001‚ the company’s financial condition began to decline due to the slowing telecommunications industry‚ which eventually put pressure on the company’s executive
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3) Roots of the scandal The roots of the fraud and the role of internal auditors As explained above‚ the fraud was implemented by the former CEO Bernard Ebbers and commited by his financial director Scott D. Sullivan. The technique used by Worldcom was pretty simple; indeed‚ he cooked the books by saving pure operating expenses such as maintenance network in capital expenditure instead of expenses in order to hide its decreasing earnings and to maintain the price of Worldcom’s stock. In summary
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Enron and WorldCom FIN/486 December 22‚ 2014 Enron and WorldCom In 1998‚ Waste Management executives acknowledged earnings misstatements of approximately $1.7 billion. With the help of the Arthur Anderson accounting firm‚ Waste Management shareholders lost more than $6 billion dollars (CNN‚ 2001). The Waste Management corruption ushered in a series of corporate scandals into the new millennium. Enron and WorldCom were only two of many ethical and accounting violations that prompted new legislation
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long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington‚ D.C.[1] Founded in 1963‚ it grew to be the second-largest long-distance provider in the U.S. It was purchased by WorldCom in 1998 and became MCI WorldCom‚ with the name afterwards being shortened to WorldCom in 2000. WorldCom’s financial scandals and bankruptcy led that company to change its name in 2003 to MCI Inc.. The MCI name disappeared in January 2006 after the company was bought by Verizon. As of May 2011‚ the MCI trademark
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WorldCom Failure in relation to its Organizational Behavior LDR/531 - Organizational Leadership October 7‚ 2010 WorldCom Failure in relation to its Organizational Behavior INTRODUCTION Year 2002 saw an unprecedented number of corporate scandals: Enron‚ Tyco‚ Global Crossing‚ etc. In many ways‚ WorldCom is just another case of failed corporate governance‚ accounting abuses‚ and outright greed. Many people may question if there is a secret to operating a successful business in modern times.
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the actions taken by WorldCom managers not detected earlier? What processes or systems should be in place to prevent or detect quickly the types of actions that occurred in WorldCom? The first reason is that both internal audit and external audit of WorldCom were not performing their role as intended. Generally‚ internal audit mainly focus on the reliability of financial reporting and the effectiveness of operations‚ and reports directly to the Board of Directors. In WorldCom‚ however‚ internal audit
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[1] What business was WorldCom in? WorldCom was in the business of telecommunications. Where was WorldCom located? WorldCom was located in Clinton‚ Mississippi. Who was the CEO? The CEO was Bernie Ebbers. Who was the CFO? The CFO was Scott Sullivan. What are the names of the two members of the internal audit staff who worked with Cynthia on their secret investigation? Gene Morse and Glyn Smith What made the internal auditors think that possibly there was a need to investigate WorldCom’s
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The WorldCom Fraud © 2003‚ 2005 by the AICPA This presentation is intended for use in higher education for instructional purposes only‚ and is not for application in practice. Permission is granted to classroom instructors to photocopy this document for classroom teaching purposes only. All other rights are reserved. Copyright © 2003‚ 2005 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants‚ Inc.‚ New York‚ New York. WorldCom’s Background • Awoke the sleeping giant by leading the telecom
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AVOIDING INVESTMENTS IN FRAUDULENT COMPANIES: THE WORLDCOM FRAUD Introduction The purpose of this report is to investigate and discuss the accounting fraud that occurred at WorldCom in order to recommend improved strategies to Berkshire Hathaway’s management for avoiding investments in companies with fraudulent financials. Accounting fraud is a crime committed by high level employees at an organization to manipulate the organization’s financial statements and intentionally disguise company
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