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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the executives employed at WorldCom. Before 2002‚ WorldCom was one of the top telecommunication businesses in its industry because of many acquisitions obtained by the company. Due to the increased popularity of the internet and the acquirement of UUNet and MCI Communications‚ WorldCom share significantly increased. According to Moberg and Romar (as cited in Browning‚ 1997) "By 1997‚ WorldCom’s stocks had risen from pennies per share to over $60 a share." WorldCom had become an attractive investment
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Enron’s Questionable Transactions 1. Which segment of its operations got Enron into difficulties? * The fact that Kopper was appointed to Fastow and he was an employee at Enron was the first thing that got them into trouble. Another reason was that over 11 million was invested and it ended up not being invested at all. I believe these two situations ended up being the start of Enron’s problems. Enron also was not reporting the revenue for service correctly and his stock was paid
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In 1998‚ Betty Vinson was promoted to a senior manager in the firm’s corporate accounting division. Two years later in her position she experienced a major ethical dilemma. The company WorldCom was a very successful company up until the middle of 2000 when the telecommunication industry entered a protracted slump. The company’s earnings were not Wall Street expectations‚ and it was saddled with unpaid bills. Vinson’s job was to repair the problem by doing some wrong accounting practices. The ethical
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The Coca-Cola Company established itself as a premier beverage business by maximizing its production and distribution throughout the world. These strong production efforts were met with equally effective marketing campaigns which led to it becoming the biggest beverage company in the world. Due to these accomplishments‚ many of Coca-Cola’s controversial labor and business practices have been overlooked by many in the general public. However‚ more people are becoming aware of these disputes due
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The WorldCom Accounting Scandal WorldCom was started in Mississippi as a long distance telephone service provider in 1983 (Lyke and Jickling‚ 2). Over the next decade and a half‚ the company expanded to offer a whole range of telecommunication services through a series of mergers and acquisitions (Lyke and Jickling‚ 2). At its height‚ WorldCom was the largest long distance phone company in the United States and was one of the leading companies in the telecommunication market in the world‚ providing
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Accounting Fraud at WorldCom LDDS began operations in 1984 offering services to local retail and commercial customers in the southern states. It was initially a loss making enterprise‚ and thus hired Bernie J. (Bernie) Ebbers to run things. It took him less than a year to make the company profitable. By the end of 1993‚ LDDS was the fourth largest long distance carrier in the United States. After a shareholder vote in May 1995‚ the company officially came to be known as WorldCom. WorldCom culture was
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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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WorldCom Case Study Update 20061 by Edward J. Romar‚ University of Massachusetts-Boston‚ and Martin Calkins‚ University of Massachusetts-Boston Read the original case. In December 2005‚ two years after this case was written‚ the telecommunications industry consolidated further. Verizon Communications acquired MCI/WorldCom and SBC Communications acquired AT&T Corporation‚ which had been in business since the 19th Century. The acquisition of MCI/WorldCom was the direct result of the behavior
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Effect on Unethical Behavior Article Analysis The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was intended to improve corporate governance and increase the transparency of financial audits. The legislation also could have significant effects on the public accounting industry. Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 has requires companies to repeat the section 404-certification process annually and to review processes and controls for changes on a quarterly basis. The Act also promises to make important improvements in
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