WorldCom: 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

Complete List of References

This is the complete list of references used to compile research on the WorldCom Case Assessment.

References:

AccountancyAge.com. (2005, August 11). Sullivan gets five years for WorldCom fraud. Retrieved from AccountancyAge: http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1770276/sullivan-worldcom-fraud

AccountancyAge.com. (2006, July 31). WorldCom boss loses appeal. Retrieved from AccountancyAge: http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1788137/worldcom-boss-loses-appeal

Bennett, J. (2005, August). Third Ex World Com Exec. Jailed. Retrieved from AccountancyAge: http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1753576/third-worldcom-exec-jailed

Carozza, D. (2008, March/April). Extraordinary Circumstances: An Interview with Cynthia Cooper. Retrieved from Fraud Magazine: http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=210

Colvin, G. (2005, August 8). The other victims of Bernie Ebbers's fraud. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/08/08/8267650/index.htm

Corporate social responsibility. (2012, September 29). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (2012, September 7). Retrieved from SEC.gov: http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank.shtml

Frontline. (2003, May 8). The Wall Street Fix. Retrieved from PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/wcom/players.html

Hawkes, A. (2008, April 16). Worldcom auditors settle SEC charges. Retrieved from AccountancyAge: http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1761111/worldcom-auditors-settle-sec-charges

MacDonald, S. B. (2002, June 26). Life Among the Ruins: The Impact of WorldCom. Retrieved from KWR International: http://kwrintl.com/library/2002/worldcom.html

McClam, E. (2009, February 11). Former WorldCom Exec Gets Prison. Retrieved from CBSNews.com: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-770079.html?pageNum=1&tag=page

Obituary. (2003, December 14). John Sidgmore, 52; Helped Reveal WorldCom Scandal. Retrieved from Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/14/local/me-passings14

Sandberg, J., Solomon, D., & Blumenstein, R. (2002, June 27). Accounting Spot-Check Unearthed A Scandal in WorldCom's Books. Retrieved from The Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB102512901721030520.html

Stefano, T. F. (2005, August 18). WorldCom's Failure: Why Did It Happen? Retrieved from E-Commerce Times: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/45542.html

The Laws That Govern the Securities Industry . (2012, August 30). Retrieved from SEC.gov: http://www.sec.gov/about/laws.shtml#sox2002

U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Corporate Governance Bill. (2002, July 18). Retrieved from Facts on File World News Digest Database: http://proxy1.morainepark.edu:2058/wnd_story.aspx?PIN=2002255530&bts=1

U.S. Telecommunications Company WorldCom Says It Hid $3.8 Billion in Expenses; Write-down Is Largest in U.S. History; Other Developments. (2002, June 27). Retrieved from Facts on File World News Digest database: http://www.2facts.com/article/2002253770

Whittington, O. R., & Pany, K. (2012). Principles of Auditing & Other Assurance Services. McGraw Hill .

WorldCom Makes $30 Billion Hostile Bid for MCI. (1997, October 2). Retrieved from Facts on File World News Digest Database: http://www.2facts.com/article/1997077570

Blogger vs. Wordpress

I examined the usability of Blogger and WordPress. I found that I was able to maneuver around Blogger easier than WordPress. I think that WordPress is a little bit more intricate for what I need to use the blog site for. I took the tutorial for both sites, set up accounts on both and did a test blog on each. This is my actual test blog for Blogger. I really liked how easy it was for me to set up this on this site and how easy it was for me to create this blog. I was able to upload a picture to insert into my blog as you have seen. I was not able to figure out how to do that on the WordPress site. I wanted to be able to have the option if I so chose to upload a flowchart, pictures, or other charts to represent the actual information I will be talking about in my WorldCom blog. I felt that Blogger and WordPress both had those capabilities but that Blogger made it simpler to do. I think that WordPress is a fantastic site and if I would have more time to dedicate to learning all of the features that the site has to offer; I am sure that it would create an equal blog presentation. I want to limit the time I need to familiarize myself with the blogging site I am going to use because I would like to have the maximum amount of time to spend on researching and writing a well thought out and detailed assessment blog on WorldCom.

In conclusion; my choice is to use Blogger. I think that it is the best blogging tool to suit my needs in this assessment.

References:

http://dapazze.com/2011/12/blogger-vs-wordpress-which-one/ For Picture

My Personal Feeling in Conclusion of the WorldCom Case Assessment

I had no idea that WorldCom was as large of a scandal as it was. I was purely blown away at the amount of people directly involved with the orchestration and concealment of such an unethical practice. The accounting actions of WorldCom are a disgrace to the accounting profession and the external auditing procedures of Arthur Anderson, LLP in this case were nothing less than shameful. With that being said; with out cases like WorldCom, we may have never seen regulation changes such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or the Dodd-Frank Act. Business should not be with out clear cut rules, regulations, expectations and ethical practices. Acts such as the two I mentioned should be looked at frequently for updating to prevent further incidents from occurring. I believe that all of the financial scandals in the early 2000's led our economy to a very weakened state and thus creating the recession we have currently been experiencing. I would like to leave this on a positive note and with something that anyone in the auditing profession can take away from this case study. The following is a question from Cynthia Cooper's interview with Dick Carozza at Fraud Magazine along with her response:

"Regardless of new business controls and regulations, fraud examiners and internal auditors will always discover internal fraud - much of the time perpetrated by top executives - and then will be faced with ethical decisions. What kind of encouragement and advice can you give them as they try to honestly and diligently work at their jobs(Carozza, 2008)?"

"Listen to your instinct. If something doesn't feel or seem quite right, it might not be. If people are acting out of character or appear to be working to head you in another direction, step back and ask yourself why. Auditing can often be a plodding process of developing facts, checking and re-checking theories, and connecting the dots. Continue to ask for support and dig until you are satisfied that you've gotten it right. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated by superiors(Carozza, 2008). "

Carozza, D. (2008, March/April). Extraordinary Circumstances: An Interview with Cynthia Cooper. Retrieved from Fraud Magazine: http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=210

Changes Because of WorldCom

The WorldCom scandal was one of the largest in U.S. history. This had a profound impact on the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Out of this act the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was established by the SEC; to oversee the accounting and audit practices for publicly trading companies. The act states that there are to be rules and regulations specifically set up to insure the public that these types of fraud will not occur again including but not limited to the establishment of the PCAOB, an audit committee external from the company, mandatory registration of public accounting firms, registration of companies with the SEC, regulations that working papers must be maintained for at least 7 years and second partner review of audits. All of these regulations and more have been prompted by the recklessness of WorldCom and other fraudulent companies. (The Laws That Govern the Securities Industry , 2012)

Cynthia Cooper stated in her interview with Fraud Magazine in correlation to the scandal at WorldCom and how to prevent that from happening in the future; “We must find the political will to proactively institute balanced regulation, and require greater transparency and disclosure to minimize excessive market bubbles and better protect consumers and investors.” (Carozza, 2008) Transparency in terms of a company is described as the full, accurate and timely disclosure of information. This leads into the 2010 imposed Dodd-Frank Act that is quoted “To promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end ‘‘too big to fail’’, to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices, and for other purposes (Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 2012).”

Carozza, D. (2008, March/April). Extraordinary Circumstances: An Interview with Cynthia Cooper. Retrieved from Fraud Magazine: http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=210

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (2012, September 7). Retrieved from SEC.gov: http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/dodd-frank.shtml

The Laws That Govern the Securities Industry . (2012, August 30). Retrieved from SEC.gov: http://www.sec.gov/about/laws.shtml#sox2002

Analyzing WorldCom to the Audit Function & WorldCom Implications

Analyzing WorldCom to the Audit Function

WorldCom did not disclose all of the material facts to Arthur Anderson, LLP. The auditor should have reported that to its superiors. The auditor should have not given an unqualified opinion in the report but instead it should have given a disclaimer of opinion since all the evidence was not obtained to support the financial statements.

Implications of WorldCom

Politically, President Bush was already in the process of presenting a corporate governance bill to the Senate proposing stricter rules and regulations regarding corporate fraud in lieu of the recent scandal with Enron and other corporations. The WorldCom scandal helped grow support for the Sarbanes Bill. It was under this bill that the PCAOB was to be formed by the SEC. On July 15^th 2002, the U.S. Senate passed the Sarbanes Bill 97-0. It was unanimously passed! President Bush was quoted saying he was “pleased the Senate has now acted on a tough bill that shares my goals and includes all of the accounting and criminal reforms I proposed.” (U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Corporate Governance Bill, 2002)

Another political impact of the WorldCom scandal and other scandals prior was that it was unfolding so close to another election year and the 2002 congressional races. This issue of corporate scandals could have been viewed as a threat to the candidacy of President Bush in 2004 because it was under the Republican watch that this scandal and others occurred. (MacDonald, 2002)

Economically; the impact of the WorldCom scandal was staggering. Tens of thousands of WorldCom employees lost their jobs as a result of the company going bankrupt. Not to mention the competition between other telecommunication companies that thought WorldCom was actually profiting during a soft market. Those companies, including AT&T fired thousands of people in the late 90’s to compete with WorldCom’s low costs. Other companies like Global Crossing and Qwest ended up committing fraud themselves to try and compete with major companies like WorldCom. All because one major corporation failed to exercise its responsibility to adhere to generally accepted accounting principles. WorldCom was allowed to file for bankruptcy and was allowed to keep most of its assets. As a result they are still a nemesis to other telecommunication companies in respect to low costs because they have less debt. (Colvin, 2005)

Another economic perspective looks at the impact that the WorldCom scandal had on the stock market. The scandal caused the company stock to plummet. Shareholders lost billions of dollars when the stock value seemed to go from gold to pennies overnight. (Colvin, 2005)

Socially, WorldCom was not acting as a responsible company. WorldCom had a responsibility to uphold ethical business practices. By committing accounting fraud the company had lost the trust of investors, employees, other countries that were in business with WorldCom and the American public. The scandal within WorldCom was another reason for people to not trust corporate America and all during a time when we needed to be trusted the most. (Corporate social responsibility, 2012)

Colvin, G. (2005, August 8). The other victims of Bernie Ebbers's fraud. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/08/08/8267650/index.htm

Corporate social responsibility. (2012, September 29). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility

MacDonald, S. B. (2002, June 26). Life Among the Ruins: The Impact of WorldCom. Retrieved from KWR International: http://kwrintl.com/library/2002/worldcom.htm

Thursday, October 4, 2012

WorldCom Scandal: Why It Happened and How

By 2001 the telecommunications market was softening; meaning prices were falling due to an excess of supply and a decrease in demand. The market was being flooded with telecommunication companies and therefore the prices were lessening due to a lack of buyers. WorldCom had already signed contracts with third party telecommunication companies promising to complete their calls. These multi billion dollar contracts were actually costing more in expenses than what the company would or was receiving in revenue. (Sandberg, Solomon, & Blumenstein, 2002) Ebber’s personal financial troubles needed WorldCom to flourish since his only means to pay his debt was through his stock in his own company.

To fix this issue; Sullivan and Ebbers concocted some more than questionable accounting practices. Thus began the practice of taking an operating expense and reclassifying the expense as a capital expenditure. This would make the company appear to be in good standing and match the stock prices. Internal and external auditors were not being allowed access to these accounting entries yet they just kept signing off on the audits. Cynthia Cooper stumbled across an incorrect entry while auditing. She found one entry where the account was an expense but was entered as a capital expenditure. She did not take no for an answer; she began her own secret audit and made the audit committee aware of her astonishing findings. (Stefano, 2005)

Stefano, T. F. (2005, August 18). WorldCom's Failure: Why Did It Happen? Retrieved from E-Commerce Times: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/45542.html

What was the WorldCom Scandal and When did it Occur?

WorldCom had hid a total of 3.8 billion dollars worth of operating expenses as capital expenditures over an estimated 5 quarters. If the expenses would have been stated as ordinary expenses it would have shown that the company was not profiting; but instead losing money. Capital expenditures can be spread across a longer accounting period, thus allowing WorldCom to look as if it was still generating a profit. (U.S. Telecommunications Company WorldCom Says It Hid $3.8 Billion in Expenses; Write-down Is Largest in U.S. History; Other Developments, 2002) The five quarter span that the accounting discrepancies transpired was allegedly as early as 2001 into the middle of 2002. (Sandberg, Solomon, & Blumenstein, 2002)

This chart explains the difference between the accounting that occurred at WorldCom in comparison to GAAP.

(Sandberg, Solomon, & Blumenstein, 2002)

Key Players Involved in WorldCom Scandal

These some of major key players involved in the WorldCom scandal:

Bernard Ebbers - He is one of the firm’s founders in 1983. In 1985 he took the position of chief executive officer in the company. He held the position until his resignation in April of 2002. It was his financial woes could have been the motivation that sparked the fuel for the accounting scandal that occurred under his supervision. He had an excess of $400 million dollars in personal loans using his WorldCom stock as collateral at the time of his resignation. (U.S. Telecommunications Company WorldCom Says It Hid $3.8 Billion in Expenses; Write-down Is Largest in U.S. History; Other Developments, 2002) Bernard Ebbers was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the scandal. His appeal was eventually denied and he is currently serving his time. (AccountancyAge.com, 2006)

Scott Sullivan – He was the chief financial officer and secretary of WorldCom. He was also fired in June of 2002 for his blatant roll in the improper accounting. He was also a close ally of Bernard Ebbers. (U.S. Telecommunications Company WorldCom Says It Hid $3.8 Billion in Expenses; Write-down Is Largest in U.S. History; Other Developments, 2002) He was the star witness for the prosecution in the trail against Bernard Ebbers. He did receive 5 years in prison for his own role in the scandal. (AccountancyAge.com, 2005)

David Myers – He was the controller and senior vice president of WorldCom. He resigned in June 2002, the same day as the firing of Sullivan, because of his alleged involvement in the improper accounting. (U.S. Telecommunications Company WorldCom Says It Hid $3.8 Billion in Expenses; Write-down Is Largest in U.S. History; Other Developments, 2002) He was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison for his role in the scandal. (McClam, 2009)

Buford “Buddy” Yates – He was the former director of accounting at WorldCom. He was charged and sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison for his role in the scandal. (Bennett, 2005)

Betty Vinson – She was the former director of corporate accounting at WorldCom. She was sentenced to five months in prison for her role in the scandal. (Bennett, 2005)

Troy Normand – He was a former accountant for WorldCom. He was sentenced to 3 years probation for his role in the scandal. (Bennett, 2005)

Arthur Anderson LLP – Kenneth M. Avery and Melvin Dick were the primary auditors representing their firm in the WorldCom scandal. They were accused of not exercising due care and skepticism in their 2001 audits of the company. Dick was barred from practicing accounting for 4 years and Avery was barred for 3 years. (Hawkes, 2008)

Jack Grubman – He was an analyst on Wall Street at the time of the scandal. He had a very intimate relationship with key members of many top organizations that he was giving financial advice about to customers. He urged people to buy WorldCom securities and then urged them sell. He maintains that he was unaware of the scandal until it was made publicly known. He has been banned for life from the securities business and ordered to pay a 15 million dollar fine. He was not being charged criminally. (Frontline, 2003)

John Sidgmore – He was vice chairman of the board until 2002 when Ebbers resigned. He then became WorldCom’s new CEO. He was never charged in the accounting scandal and maintains that he was not involved in the finances of the company in many years. He did publicly apologize on behalf of WorldCom for its behavior and vowed to see that those involved are punished. (Obituary, 2003)

Cynthia Cooper – Chief Internal Auditor of WorldCom. She brought the accounting discrepancies that she and her team found to the attention of Sullivan, Arthur Anderson LLP, Myers and many more throughout the company. She was told to ignore the issue. She conducted her own audit of the company in comparison to the Arthur Anderson audit. With the help of her team, she “blew the whistle” on the scandal at WorldCom to their audit committee in Washington D.C. (Carozza, 2008)