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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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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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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WorldCom Scandal A summary of WorldCom fraud would include having to describe the greed that would eventually destroy one of the largest communications companies in the United States and world. A humble motel owner‚ Bernard Ebbers took a small long distance company in 1983 and turned it into one of the most successful businesses in the country. It was not so much the business operations that caused the company to grow but the aggressive acquisitions that made the company grow. In its day‚ CEO Bernard
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The WorldCom scandal was actually brought to light by the internal auditor‚ Cynthia Cooper. Cooper and her team‚ Gene Morse and Glyn Smith uncovered the fact that line costs were being transferred to capital accounts. Cooper was originally tipped off to the fact that something was amiss when the head of WorldCom’s wireless business paid her a visit‚ upset that he was loosing $400 million that had been set aside to make up for shortfalls if customers didn’t pay their bills. Scott Sullivan‚ CFO of
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Critical Thinking Scenario Reflection Blood Money Daniel M. Buricea ETH/316 09/08/2014 Professor Ryan Busch In this particular scenario‚ we are looking at the ethical challenges in transplant medicine which refer to how the organs are procured‚ distributed and what measures can be taken to resolve these challenges. In the video presented by ABC News‚ in China the organ procurement is mostly based on executing prisoners. This fact was confirmed by “Dr. Ronald Gutman‚ an advisor to
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fraudulent accounting practices that led to the collapse of Worldcom. Other objectives of this paper will be to demonstrate how these activities were able to go undetected. Also‚ what motives drove the individuals involved to commit these acts. And finally the ethical accounting issues involved. Worldcom got its start as a small discount long distance provider in Mississippi. Founded by Bernard Ebbers and a number of others the idea for Worldcom was simple‚ buy long distance services from larger companies
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a- i) According to SCON 6 article 25‚ assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events. Assets has three characteristics: it embodies a probable future benefit that involves a capacity or in combination with other assets‚ to contribute directly or indirectly to future net cash inflows‚ a particular entity can obtain the benefit and control others’ access to it and the transaction or other event giving rise to the
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Enron and its Associates Used Questionable Accounting Practices Clearly‚ there have been cases where management knowingly deceived the auditors. Then there seem to be other instances where the accounting treatment envelope was pushed just a bit too far. In the case of Enron‚ David B. Duncan‚ the former Andersen partner in charge of the Enron audit who was the government’s chief witness in the trial against Arthur Andersen‚ stood behind the decisions that resulted in the widespread use of off-balance
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An Ethical Dilemma at WorldCom: A case study of Cynthia Cooper The Scenario One May afternoon‚ while sitting in his cubicle at WorldCom Inc. headquarters located in Clinton‚ Mississippi‚ Gene Morse was stunned to find an accounting entry for $500 million in expenses‚ which was not accounted for with any invoices. He immediately reported this entry to his boss‚ vice president of internal audit Cynthia Cooper (Pulliam & Solomon‚ 2002). Little did they know at the time that this discovery would begin
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