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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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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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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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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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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WorldCom Case Study: Lack of Leadership‚ Lack of Ethics Emily Fearnow ORG 500- Foundations of Effective Management Colorado State University – Global Campus Dr. Cheryl Lentz May 15‚ 2011 WorldCom Case Study: Lack of Leadership‚ Lack of Ethics A multitude of choices made by executives at WorldCom led to the ultimate demise of the company as it was previously known‚ the employees and their livelihoods’‚ and the trust of the American people. In a time when corporations
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Case study on WorldCom THE WORLDCOM FRAUD:- Presented By: Pratik WorldCom’s Background • Awoke the sleeping giant by leading the telecom industry into profitability in the 90’s. • During the 1990’s‚ WorldCom was deeply involved in acquisitions and completed several “mega-deals” • Purchased over 60 firms in 2nd half of the 90’s • WorldCom moved into Internet and data traffic • Handled 50% of US Internet traffic • Handled 50% of e-mails worldwide WorldCom’s Background (cont.) • Purchased MCI for
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was that of WorldCom. In 1983 Bernie Ebbers and several other people invested in a newly formed company in Clinton‚ Mississippi called Long Distance Discount Services‚ Inc. (LDDS). LDDS was a provider of long distance telephone service to residential and commercial markets. Ebbers became CEO of LDDS in 1985. In 1989 the company merged with Advantage Companies‚ Inc. and became publicly traded. In 1995 the company name was changed to LDDS WorldCom‚ and later to just WorldCom. WorldCom grew to be
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Concepts a. (i.) According to FASB Statement of Concepts No. 6‚ paragraph 25‚ assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events. They represent probable future economic benefits controlled by the enterprise. According to FASB Statement of Concepts No 6‚ paragraph 80‚ expenses are outflows or other using up of assets or incurrences of liabilities (or a combination of both) during a period from delivering or producing
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