While Stephen Richards was the head of global sales at Computer Associates he was a faciliter in the illegal extension of the fiscal quarter. He also allowed his employees to obtain contracts after the end of the quarter, and then backdate them so that they would add to the expired quarter's revenues. In the eyes of the DOJ (Department of Justice) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) the deliberate misreporting or omittance of financial accounting information is viewed as a felony, punishable with time in prison. Yet, according to Richards’ “This was simply a timing issue of a deal coming in and being recognized two or three days earlier as opposed to two or three days later.” Had Richards and his team been honest and thorough about …show more content…
Nevertheless, it should not have mattered what CA’s competitors were doing, as these types of blunders do not just disagree with basic accounting principles, but also are fraudulent and illegal regardless of what competitors are …show more content…
These targets put pressure on the executives of these large companies, who in turn put pressure on their employees and cause a “trickle down effect” where the motivation for the company is to meet these obscure targets (huge earnings numbers), because then their public company will stack up higher when compared to other companies like their own. One thing that Stephen Richards emphasized in his letter was how Computer Associates International “was among the most aggressive in its pursuit of goals,” therefore exerting immense pressure to excel on the employees, especially the executives. While CA was one of the first computer software companies of its time, in the 1980s and
A summary of the case details (provide the circumstances surrounding the case, who, what, when, how)
Mr. Cockburn concluded that the evidence presented in this case was misinterpret and misapprehend, the leading investigation was “unscientific and slipshod” which lead to the sentence of Edward splatt. Many questions were raised, whether police officers should collect trace elements from the crime scene? The involvemet of police officers collecting samples rather than scientific experts which could lead to wrong and misleading evidence? The scientific procedure undertaking in this investigation. And these collected samples collected from officers and tested would lead to unvaluable piece of evidence.After Edward splatt conviction, anattorney- general by the name of Mr Griffin keeped a close eye on the case and examined the moran report and
Is Steve Harmon innocent or guilty you decide. Steve Harmon is put on trial of the murder of Mr. Nesbitt and the robbery of his drug store. During the trail Steve Harmon is seen as guilty by the prosecutor Sandra Petrocelli. The witness Allen Forbes testimony proves that the gun used in the murder was registered under Mr. Nesbitt. This helps prove that the gun was used in the murder and the robbery and the gun was later found in the store. This witness helped me prove that Steve Harmon could have used the gun to kill Mr. Nesbitt or had taken part in the robbery at some point in the crime. “I went around behind the counter and I saw Mr. Nesbitt on the floor—there was blood everywhere and the cash register was open. A lot of cigarettes were
You would think Andre Rand would have come to his senses after being sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. However, that was not the case. Rand cast himself as a “scapegoat victim” of a “corrupt” legal system, according to a series of letters he wrote and sent to a newspaper dating back to 1994.(Donnelly) In 1969, Andre Rand convicted his first act as a suspected serial killer, and convicted murderer. This must have set off a trigger in his mind that told him mentally to forever be a kidnapper, killer, and pedophile. Rand did not stop his ways after his 1969 act of crime.
The Dread Scott decision exacerbated the debate over slavery by declaring that blacks cannot be citizens and that Congress does not have the power to prohibit slavery in the territories, which further divided the North and the South. The decision also deeply affected politics, and was one of the causes of the Civil War.
Throughout the past several years major corporate scandals have rocked the economy and hurt investor confidence. The largest bankruptcies in history have resulted from greedy executives that “cook the books” to gain the numbers they want. These scandals typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of assets or underreporting of liabilities, sometimes with the cooperation of officials in other corporations (Medura 1-3). In response to the increasing number of scandals the US government amended the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 to mitigate these problems. Sarbanes Oxley has extensive regulations that hold the CEO and top executives responsible for the numbers they report but problems still occur. To ensure proper accounting standards have been used Sarbanes Oxley also requires that public companies be audited by accounting firms (Livingstone). The problem is that the accounting firms are also public companies that also have to look after their bottom line while still remaining objective with the corporations they audit. When an accounting firm is hired the company that hired them has the power in the relationship. When the company has the power they can bully the firm into doing what they tell them to do. The accounting firm then loses its objectivity and independence making their job ineffective and not accomplishing their goal of honest accounting (Gerard). Their have been 379 convictions of fraud to date, and 3 to 6 new cases opening per month. The problem has clearly not been solved (Ulinski).
In August of 2001 Robert Ray Courtney was arrested in Kansas City, Missouri and charged with diluting drugs used to treat cancer patients. Courtney’s actions not only violated criminal and civil laws but they shattered the ethical code and the oath he took as a licensed pharmacist. His actions left many people wondering why anyone would commit such a horrible act, let alone a trusted pharmacist who was providing medication to patients whose very lives depended on him doing his job.
The long SEC complaint alleges the company engaged in numerous fraudulent activities, which included filing material incorrect financial statements for 11 straight quarters between April 1999 and December 2001. Th...
Steve Findley, a first year financial analyst at Putnam & Peters, must decide if he is going to attend an oral presentation to the Delaware Resource Redemption Authority. The company asked Findley to go because Andrew Webster, the highest ranking black professional, cannot go to the meeting and Findley is the only other black professional at Putnam & Peters. Findley needs to decide within the hour if the situation is degrading or a potential career risk.
"This is why the market keeps going down every day - investors don't know who to trust," said Brett Trueman, an accounting professor from the University of California-Berkeley's Haas School of Business. As these things come out, it just continues to build up"(CBS MarketWatch, Hancock). The memories of the Frauds at Enron and WorldCom still haunt many investors. There have been many accounting scandals in the United States history. The Enron and the WorldCom accounting fraud affected thousands of people and it caused many changes in the rules and regulation of the corporate world. There are many similarities and differences between the two scandals and many rules and regulations have been created in order to prevent frauds like these. Enron Scandal occurred before WorldCom and despite the devastating affect of the Enron Scandal, new rules and regulations were not created in time to prevent the WorldCom Scandal. Accounting scandals like these has changed the corporate world in many ways and people are more cautious about investing because their faith had been shaken by the devastating effects of these scandals. People lost everything they had and all their life-savings. When looking at the accounting scandals in depth, it is unbelievable how much to the extent the accounting standards were broken.
Brad Brooks has two goals. On the one hand he wants to pay off his credit card balance of $8,000 and on the other hand he wants to save $4,000 so that he can retire 25 years from now.
Every company or organization that operates for profit is constantly seeking new opportunities to increase its value and profitability. If the company has stocks in an open market, the pressure increases to have a profitable business that offers investors opportunities to increase their investment through dividends. To achieve this, many companies engage in unethical accounting methods to manipulate the finances of the company. One of the biggest cases in history where the hunger to have a profitable business drove the executives of a well-known chain of orthopedic hospitals to engage in numerous unethical and illegal accounting behaviors is the case of HealthSouth.
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
The Tyco accounting scandal is an ideal illustration of how individuals who hold key positions in an organization are able to manipulate accounting practices and financial reports for personal gain. The few key individuals involved in the Tyco Scandal (CEO Kozlowski and CFO Swartz), used a number of clever and unique tactics in order to accomplish what they did; including spring loading, manipulating their ‘key-employee loan’ program, and multiple ‘hush money’ payouts.
Fraudulent financial reporting within any particular business can lead to or affect the overall efficacy of a business in the long run. Understanding gained from the past instances with regard to fraudulent financial reporting affirmed that such activities could lead to complete downfall of a business. The cases of Enron and WorldCom are some of the most notable instances that can be bring into notice in this context.