Accounting scandals
Accounting scandals are business scandals which arise from intentional manipulation of financial statements with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. Such misdeeds typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating[1] the value of corporate assets, or underreporting the existence of liabilities (these can be detected either manually, or by the means of deep learning[2]). It involves an employee, account, or corporation itself and is misleading to investors and shareholders.[3]
Criminology and penology |
---|
This type of "creative accounting" can amount to fraud, and investigations are typically launched by government oversight agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States. Employees who commit accounting fraud at the request of their employers are subject to personal criminal prosecution.[4]
Two types of fraud
Misappropriation of assets
Misappropriation of assets – often called defalcation or employee fraud – occurs when an employee steals a company's asset, whether those assets are of monetary or physical nature. Typically, assets stolen are cash, or cash equivalents, and company data or intellectual property.[5] However, misappropriation of assets also includes taking inventory out of a facility or using company assets for personal purpose without authorization. Company assets include everything from office supplies and inventory to intellectual property.
Fraudulent financial reporting
Fraudulent financial reporting is also known as earnings management fraud. In this context, management intentionally manipulates accounting policies or accounting estimates to improve financial statements. Public and private corporations commit fraudulent financial reporting to secure investor interest or obtain bank approvals for financing, as justifications for bonuses or increased salaries or to meet the expectations of shareholders.[6] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought enforcement actions against corporations for many types of fraudulent financial reporting, including improper revenue recognition, period-end stuffing, fraudulent post-closing entries, improper asset valuations, and misleading non-GAAP financial measures.[7]
The fraud triangle
The fraud triangle is a model for explaining the factors that cause someone to commit fraudulent behaviors in accounting. It consists of three components, which together, lead to fraudulent behavior:
- Incentives/ Pressure: Management or other employees have incentives or pressures to commit fraud.
- Opportunities: Circumstances provide opportunities for management or employees to commit fraud.
- Attitudes/rationalization: An attitude, character, or set of ethical values exists that allows management or employees to commit a dishonest act, or they are in an environment that imposes sufficient pressure that causes them to rationalize committing a dishonest act.[8]
Incentives/pressures: A common incentive for companies to manipulate financial statement is a decline in the company's financial prospects. Companies may also manipulate earnings to meet analysts' forecasts or benchmarks such as prior-year earnings, to meet debt covenant restrictions, achieve a bonus target based on earnings, or artificially inflate stock prices. As for misappropriation of assets, financial pressures are a common incentive for employees. Employees with excessive financial obligations, or those with substance abuse or gambling problems may steal to meet their personal needs.[9]
Opportunities: Although the financial statements of all companies are potentially subject to manipulation, the risk is greater for companies in industries where significant judgments and accounting estimates are involved. Turnover in accounting personnel or other deficiencies in accounting and information processes can create an opportunity for misstatement. As for misappropriation of assets, opportunities are greater in companies with accessible cash or with inventory or other valuable assets, especially if the assets are small or easily removed. A lack of controls over payments to vendors or payroll systems can allow employees to create fictitious vendors or employees and bill the company for services or time.[10]
Attitudes/rationalization: The attitude of top management toward financial reporting is a critical risk factor in assessing the likelihood of fraudulent financial statements. If the CEO or other top managers display a significant disregard for the financial reporting process, such as consistently issuing overly optimistic forecasts, or they are overly concerned about the meeting analysts' earnings forecast, fraudulent financial reporting is more likely. Similarly, for misappropriation of assets, if management cheats customers through overcharging for goods or engaging in high-pressure sales tactics, employees may feel that it is acceptable for them to behave in the same fashion.[11]
Causes
Fraud is done by people. There are three ways to unlawfully take another person’s money: force, trickery, and stealth.[12]Frauds such as embezzlement are easy to hide when company records are opaque to begin with. Poor accounting, such as the absence of monthly reconciliations or an independent audit function, also indicate vulnerability to fraud.[13]
Executive and managerial motivations for fraud
An executive can easily reduce the price of his company's stock due to information asymmetry. He can: accelerate accounting of expenses, delay accounting of revenue, engage in off balance sheet transactions to make the company seem less profitable, or simply report very low estimates of future earnings. Executives may do this to make a company a more attractive takeover target. When the company is bought for less, the acquirer profits from the executive's actions to surreptitiously reduce share price. This can represent tens of billions of dollars (questionably) transferred from former shareholders to the acquirer. The executive is then rewarded with a golden handshake for presiding over the firesale that can sometimes be in the hundreds of millions of dollars for one or two years of work.[14] Managerial opportunism plays a large role in these scandals.
Similar issues occur when a publicly held asset or non-profit organization undergoes privatization. Executives often profit greatly. Again, they can help by making the organization appear to be in financial crisis. This lowers the sale price, and makes non-profits and governments more likely to sell. It can also contribute to a public perception that private entities are more efficiently run, thereby reinforcing the political will to sell off public assets. Again, due to asymmetric information, policy makers and the general public see a government-owned firm that was a financial 'disaster' miraculously turned around by the private sector (and typically resold) within a few years. Under the Special Plea in Fraud statute, "the government must 'establish by clear and convincing evidence that the contractor knew that its submitted claims were false, and that it intended to defraud the government by submitting those claims.'" Mere negligence, inconsistency, or discrepancies are not actionable under the Special Plea in Fraud statute.[15]
Employee motivations for fraud
Not all accounting scandals are caused by those at the top. In fact, in 2015, 33% of all business bankruptcies were caused by employee theft.[16] Often middle managers and employees are pressured to or willingly alter financial statements due to their debts or the possibility of personal benefit over that of the company, respectively. For example, officers who would be compensated more in the short-term (for example, cash in pocket) might be more likely to report inaccurate information on a tab or invoice (enriching the company and maybe eventually getting a raise).[17]
List of biggest accounting scandals
Notable outcomes
The Enron scandal turned into the indictment and criminal conviction of Big Five auditor Arthur Andersen on June 15, 2002. Although the conviction was overturned on May 31, 2005, by the Supreme Court of the United States, the firm ceased performing audits and split into multiple entities. The Enron scandal was defined as being one of the biggest audit failures of all time. The scandal included utilizing loopholes that were found within the GAAP (General Accepted Accounting Principles). For auditing a large-sized company such as Enron, the auditors were criticized for having brief meetings a few times a year that covered large amounts of material. By January 17, 2002, Enron decided to discontinue its business with Arthur Andersen, claiming they had failed in accounting advice and related documents. Arthur Andersen was judged guilty of obstruction of justice for disposing of many emails and documents that were related to auditing Enron. Since the SEC is not allowed to accept audits from convicted felons, the firm was forced to give up its CPA licenses later in 2002, costing over 113,000 employees their jobs. Although the ruling was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the once-proud firm's image was tarnished beyond repair, and it has not returned as a viable business even on a limited scale.
On July 9, 2002, George W. Bush gave a speech about recent accounting scandals that had been uncovered. In spite of its stern tone, the speech did not focus on establishing new policy, but instead focused on actually enforcing current laws, which include holding CEOs and directors personally responsible for accountancy fraud.[107]
In July 2002, WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection in what was considered at the time as the largest corporate insolvency ever.[108] A month earlier, the company's internal auditors discovered over $3.8 billion in illicit accounting entries intended to mask WorldCom's dwindling earnings, which was by itself more than the accounting fraud uncovered at Enron less than a year earlier.[109] Ultimately, WorldCom admitted to inflating its assets by $11 billion.[110]
These scandals reignited the debate over the relative merits of US GAAP, which takes a "rules-based" approach to accounting, versus International Accounting Standards and UK GAAP, which takes a "principles-based" approach.[111][112] The Financial Accounting Standards Board announced that it intends to introduce more principles-based standards. More radical means of accounting reform have been proposed, but so far have very little support. The debate itself, however, overlooks the difficulties of classifying any system of knowledge, including accounting, as rules-based or principles-based. This also led to the establishment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
On a lighter note, the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize in Economics went to the CEOs of those companies involved in the corporate accounting scandals of that year for "adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world."
In 2003, Nortel made a big contribution to this list of scandals by incorrectly reporting a one cent per share earnings directly after their massive layoff period. They used this money to pay the top 43 managers of the company. The SEC and the Ontario securities commission eventually settled civil action with Nortel. However, a separate civil action will be taken up against top Nortel executives including former CEO Frank A. Dunn, Douglas C. Beatty, Michael J. Gollogly, and MaryAnne E. Pahapill and Hamilton. These proceedings have been postponed pending criminal proceedings in Canada, which opened in Toronto on January 12, 2012.[113] Crown lawyers at this fraud trial of three former Nortel Networks executives say the men defrauded the shareholders of Nortel of more than $5 million. According to the prosecutor this was accomplished by engineering a financial loss in 2002, and a profit in 2003 thereby triggering Return to Profit bonuses of $70 million for top executives.[114][115][116][117][118] In 2007, Dunn, Beatty, Gollogly, Pahapill, Hamilton, Craig A. Johnson, James B. Kinney, and Kenneth R.W. Taylor were charged with engaging in accounting fraud by "manipulating reserves to manage Nortel's earnings."[119]
In 2005, after a scandal on insurance and mutual funds the year before, AIG was investigated for accounting fraud. The company already lost over $45 billion worth of market capitalization because of the scandal. Investigations also discovered over a $1 billion worth of errors in accounting transactions. The New York Attorney General's investigation led to a $1.6 billion fine for AIG and criminal charges for some of its executives.[120] CEO Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg was forced to step down and fought fraud charges until 2017, when the 91-year-old reached a $9.9 million settlement.[121][122] Howard Smith, AIG's chief financial officer, also reached a settlement.
Well before Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme came to light, observers doubted whether his listed accounting firm – an unknown two-person firm in a rural area north of New York City – was competent to service a multibillion-dollar operation, especially since it had only one active accountant, David G. Friehling.[123] Indeed, Friehling's practice was so small that for years, he operated out of his house; he only moved into an office when Madoff customers wanted to know more about who was auditing his accounts.[124] Ultimately, Friehling admitted to simply rubber-stamping at least 18 years' worth of Madoff's filings with the SEC. He also revealed that he continued to audit Madoff even though he had invested a substantial amount of money with him (Accountants are not allowed to audit broker-dealers with whom they're investing). He agreed to forfeit $3.18 million in accounting fees and withdrawals from his account with Madoff. His involvement makes the Madoff scheme not only the largest Ponzi scheme ever uncovered, but the largest accounting fraud in world history.[125] The $64.8 billion claimed to be in Madoff accounts dwarfed the $11 billion fraud at WorldCom.
See also
- Accounting ethics
- Corporate crime
- Creative accounting
- Dot-com bubble
- Financial crisis of 2007–2008
- Forensic accounting
- Hollywood accounting
- List of corporate collapses and scandals
- Microcap stock fraud
- Philosophy of accounting
- Repo 105
- Sarbanes–Oxley Act
- Savings and loan crisis
- Securities fraud
- Tobashi scheme
- Vivien v. WorldCom
- White-collar crime
References
- In Italian law the phrase "still subject to evaluation" now refers to material facts that are untrue: it was a clarification for "informations", but totally inconsistent with the "facts" reported in accounting documents: Buonomo, Giampiero (2001). "Diritto societario: chiusa la discussione, approvazione a fine mese". Diritto&Giustizia Edizione Online. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016.
- Schreyer, Marco (October 9, 2019). "Adversarial Learning of Deepfakes in Accounting". arXiv:1910.03810 [cs.LG].
- Nickolas, Steven (March 27, 2015). "What is accounting fraud?". Investopedia. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- "What is accounting fraud? definition and meaning". BusinessDictionary.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- "Asset misappropriation fraud". Action Fraud. January 25, 2010. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- "What Is Financial Statement Fraud?". Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- "When do non-GAAP metrics become fraudulent publicity?". Fraud Magazine. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- Alvin, Aren (2016). Auditing and Assurance Services. Pearson. p. 299. ISBN 978-0134065823.
- Aren, Alvin (2016). Auditing and Assurance Services. New York: Pearson. p. 300. ISBN 978-0134065823.
- Aren, Alvin (2016). Auditing and Assurance Services. New York: Pearson. p. 301. ISBN 978-0134065823.
- Aren, Alvin (2016). Auditing and Assurance Services. New York: Pearson. p. 302. ISBN 978-0134065823.
- Wells, Joseph T. "New Approaches to Fraud Deterrence." Business Credit 107.2 (2005): 33-6. ProQuest. Web. Jan. 31, 2018.
- Frost, Ken (September 14, 2012). "Top 10 reasons why frauds occur". Metro. Archived from the original on May 6, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
- "Challenging times for crisis-hit Cosalt". Grimsby Telegraph. January 11, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
- Horan, Jack. "Fraud is here, Fraud is there, but is Fraud Everywhere?" Contract Management 01 2016: 64,65,67-69. ProQuest. Web. Jan. 31, 2018 .
- "25 Jaw Dropping Statistics about Employee Fraud in 2015". SheerID. June 2, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
- Cunningham, Lawrence (September 12, 2003). "The Appeal and Limits of Internal Controls to Fight Fraud, Terrorism, Other Ills": 18.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - John Z. Szabo, Licenses—Accountants' Liability—Duty to Disclose [Fisher v. Kletz, 266 F. Supp. 180 (S.D.N.Y. 1967)], 19 Case Western Reserve Law Review p387 (1968)"Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - M. J. Rossant (November 14, 1965). "Atlantic Acceptance: Even the Big Ones Got Stung; U.S. Investors Lose Heavily Following Collapse of Canada's Atlantic Acceptance". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017.
- The Accounting Cycle: NY v. Ernst & Young: Who Cares Whether Lehman Brothers Followed GAAP? accounting.smartpros.com January 2011 "NY v. Ernst & Young: Who Cares Whether Lehman Brothers Followed GAAP?". Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- Labaton, Stephen (December 7, 1986). "Cortes Randell: Student Market Hoax". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016.
- U.S. Indicts Eight In Sale Of Stock In Nursing Homes The New York Times December 21, 1972 Archived November 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- Insurance Fraud Charged By S.E.C. To Equity Funding The New York Times April 4, 1973 Cole, Robert J. (April 4, 1973). "Insurance Fraud Charged by S.e.c. To Equity Funding". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
- Anderson Firm Is Found Guilty of Fraud The New York Times November 5, 1981 Arenson, Karen W. (November 5, 1981). "Anderson Firm is Found Guilty of Fraud". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- "Scandals: Lockheed's Defiance: A Right to Bribe?". Time. August 18, 1975. Archived from the original on August 29, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
- Owen, J. Sleight of Hand : The $25 million Nugan Hand Bank Scandal; Balmain, Sydney, Australia: Colporteur Press, 1983. ISBN 0-86399-023-1
- A Close-Up Look at the Fraud That Ruined O.P.M. The New York Times May 1, 1983 Taylor, Stuart Jr. (May 1983). "A Close-Up Look at the Fraud That Ruined O.p.m." The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- Minkow, Barry, Clean Sweep:The Inside Story of the Zzzz Best Scam ... One of Wall Street's Biggest Frauds, ISBN 0-7852-7916-4
- Hercules Managements Ltd. v. Ernst & Young, [1997] 2 S.C.R. 165 "Hercules Managements LTD. V. Ernst & Young - SCC Cases (Lexum)". Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
- Accounting Firm Calls E.S.M. Case 'a Betrayal' The New York Times April 5, 1985 Archived November 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- Frank, Partnoy, Infectious Greed, ISBN 9781846682933
- Reece, Damian (January 13, 2004). "Deloitte's John Connolly faces call to resign over Barlow Clowes link". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on October 26, 2010. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- Labaton, Stephen (September 7, 1989). "S.E.C. Files Fraud Case on Retailer". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- "Fraud Is Cited at Miniscribe". The New York Times. Associated Press. September 13, 1989. Retrieved October 12, 2007.
- Perkel, Colin (January 8, 2016). "$118M award against Livent auditor upheld". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016.
- McFarland, Janet (December 20, 2017). "Supreme Court says Livent auditors liable but sets conditions". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on December 21, 2017.
- Robert Wearing; Bob Wearing (2005). Cases in Corporate Governance. SAGE Publications. pp. 41–53. ISBN 978-1-4129-0877-1. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018.
- Cellan-Jones, Rory (November 2, 2005). "The end of an epic". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on December 15, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- "How to Steal $500 Million". Frontline. June 23, 1994. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Barua, Samir K; Varma, Jayanth R (January 1993). "Securities Scam: Genesis, Mechanics, and Impact" (PDF). Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers. 18 (1): 3–14. doi:10.1177/0256090919930101. ISSN 0256-0909. S2CID 115119893. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
- Rattanani, Lekha; Parikh, Daksesh (June 14, 2013). "Securities scam: Harshad Mehta throws banking system, stock-markets into turmoil". India Today. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
- Pathak, Rahul (January 2, 2013). "Securities scandal: Investigators haul in more people, discover ever-widening net". India Today. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
- "Scam 1992: Was Harshad Mehta the mastermind or fall guy of securities scam? A bit of both". cnbctv18.com. October 25, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- A financial history of modern U.S. corporate scandals, p. 228
- "Inside Informix's Demise". Revrec. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
- Masters, Steve (January 28, 1998). "Accounting scandal rocks Sybase Japan". Computing News. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- Kawamoto, Dawn (January 22, 1998). "Sybase reeling from snafu". CNET. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- Jon Swartz (January 23, 1998). "Sybase Turns Spin Doctor / CEO and executive team show how they managed Japan crisis". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 1, 2011. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- Fischer, Lawrence (January 22, 1998). "Sybase Loss to Grow as Sales Are Disputed". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- "Cendant closes fraud case". CNN. August 27, 1998. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
- Bertrand Marotte and Nicolas Van Praet. "Cinar founder Ronald Weinberg, two others found guilty on fraud charges". Archived from the original on May 3, 2017.
- "Waste Management settles". CNN. November 7, 2001. Archived from the original on March 5, 2007.
- "The BI Verdict: – Analyses". Olapreport.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "SEC Brings Financial Fraud Charges Against Executives at Three Northern California Software Companies". Sec.gov. May 20, 2002. Archived from the original on December 29, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "Ex-CA chief Kumar pleads guilty". CNN. April 24, 2006. Archived from the original on June 22, 2007.
- Patsuris, Penelope (August 26, 2002). "The Corporate Scandal Sheet". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016.
- "One.Tel auditor was linked to Packer". The Sydney Morning Herald. October 26, 2005. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008.
- Robert Bryce, Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron (Public Affairs, 2002) ISBN 1-58648-138-X
- "Adelphia founder John Rigas found guilty – Business – Corporate scandals". NBC News. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 28, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - "Today in Business: Utility Settles Lawsuit". The New York Times. January 6, 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- Weinberg, Ari (December 11, 2003). "Shaking Steady Freddie". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 24, 2017.
- Palmeri, Chris (July 6, 2006). "How Stuart Wolff Got Himself Caught in a Trap". BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "Ex-ImClone boss admits fraud". BBC News. October 15, 2002. Archived from the original on January 3, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "SEC Charges KMart's Former CEO and CFO With Financial Fraud". Sec.gov. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Khan, Kim (May 21, 2002). "Merrill settles charges". CNN. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008.
- "SEC Settles With Ex-Andersen Partner in Sunbeam Probe". Securities.stanford.edu. February 18, 2003. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Lohr, Steve (June 21, 2013). "Technology, Day 2: I Learn the Books Are Cooked". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 28, 2015.
- Lohr, Steve (June 4, 2004). "Ex-Executives at Symbol Are Indicted". The New York Times.
- Beasley, M. S.; Frank A Buckless; S. M. Glover; D. F. Prawitt (2015). Auditing Cases: Instructor Resource Manual, 6th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ (PDF). Pearson. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
- Starkman, Dean (November 29, 2005). "Ahold Settles Lawsuit for $1.1 Billion". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- "Italian dairy boss gets 10 years". BBC News. December 18, 2008. Archived from the original on April 8, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- "Inside the Parmalat Scandal: What You Need to Know? – Our Paesani". Italiansrus.com. December 28, 2003. Archived from the original on November 16, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "HealthSouth Corporation and Richard M. Scrushy: Lit. Rel. No. 18044 / March 20, 2003". Sec.gov. Archived from the original on October 18, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Bagnall, James (November 2, 2009). "The beginning of the end". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "In re Chiquita Brands International Inc. Alien Tort Statute and Shareholder Derivative Litigation" (PDF). University of Denver. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
- "AIG Forks Up $126 Million to SEC on PNC Deals". Insurancejournal.com. November 24, 2004. Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Hurst, Greg (December 12, 2008). "Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff arrested over '$50 billion Ponzi scheme'". The Times. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
- Efrati, Amir (March 19, 2009). "Accountant Arrested for Sham Audits". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 5, 2015.
- Sharrock, David (December 20, 2008). "Anglo Irish Bank bosses quit after hiding loans of 87m". The Times. London. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
- "Satyam scandal rattles confidence in accounting Big Four". Reuters. January 8, 2009. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009.
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - Floyd Norris (April 21, 2011). "After Years of Red Flags, a Conviction". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
- Gretchen Morgenson. "Monsanto Whistle-Blower: $22 Million Richer, but Not Satisfied". The New York Times.
- Bayens v Kinross
- "Examiner's Report – Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chapter 11 Proceedings". Lehmanreport.jenner.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- "Sebi finds lapses at NSE in co-location case, issues show-cause notices to related parties". The Financial Express. July 5, 2018.
- "Sebi finds lapses at NSE in co-location case, issues show-cause notices". Business Standard. July 5, 2018.
- "I-T dept brings in ED to check money trail in NSE co-location case". Business Standard. November 21, 2017.
- Hoffman, Andy (July 15, 2011) " Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. The Globe And Mail (Canada)
- Soble, Jonathan (November 8, 2011). "Olympus used takeover fees to hide losses". Financial Times (London). Archived from the original Archived October 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine on November 11, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- Fisher, Daniel (November 20, 2012). "With Autonomy, H-P Bought An Old-Fashioned Accounting Scandal. Here's How It Worked". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 28, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- "Penn West to restate results after accounting irregularities". Archived from the original on September 19, 2015.
- "Operation Car Wash: Is this the biggest corruption scandal in history?". The Guardian. June 1, 2017. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
- Armstrong, Ashley; Torrance, Jack (January 23, 2019). "Full details of £326m Tesco accounting scandal revealed after Carl Rogberg is acquitted". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- Irvine, Julia (July 21, 2015). "Toshiba profit overstated by £738m".
- Eavis, Peter (March 28, 2016). "Valeant's Accounting Error a Warning Sign of Bigger Problems". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017.
- "Vice-president at Alberta Motor Association fired over alleged fake invoice scheme". Archived from the original on August 8, 2016.
- August 8, 2016 AMA News Release "AMA Statement". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- "Brazilian companies linked to Petrobras scandal plead guilty in US court". The Guardian. December 20, 2016. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
- "Wells Fargo Forced to Pay $3 Billion". Forbes.
- "Auditors highlight several critical areas in 1MDB's books". The Star. December 14, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2018.
- Browne, Ryan (June 18, 2020). "Wirecard shares plummet over 60% as embattled payments firm says $2.1 billion of cash is missing". CNBC. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
- Findlay, Stephanie; Lockett, Hudson (November 13, 2020). "'Modi's Rockefeller': Gautam Adani and the concentration of power in India". Financial Times. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- Madhok, Diksha (November 13, 2020). "Gautam Adani was a college dropout. Now he may be too big to fail". CNN. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- Kay, Chris; Vishnoi, Abhishek; Joshi, Ashutosh (January 25, 2023). "Hindenburg Targets Asia's Richest Man, Triggering Adani Selloff". Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- "Archived White House Website via George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum - Text, audio and video of President Bush's speech - July 9, 2002". Archived White House Website via George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- "WorldCom's bankruptcy mess". The Economist. July 22, 2002. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- Simon Romero; Alex Berenson (June 26, 2002). "WorldCom Says It Hid Expenses, Inflating Cash Flow $3.8 Billion". The New York Times.
- "Worldcom, Inc. 2002 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- "The Principles Vs Rules Based Accounting Standard Debate". uniassignment.com. Archived from the original on January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- Maverick, J. B. "Do all countries follow the same GAAP?". Investopedia. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- "canada.com - Page Not Found" – via Canada.com.
{{cite web}}
: Cite uses generic title (help) - "Nortel trial hears fraud allegations". CBC News. January 17, 2012. Archived from the original on January 21, 2012.
- Lewis, Michael (January 17, 2012). "Nortel auditors pushed back against executives' scheme, prosecutor says". The Star. Toronto. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
- Lewis, Michael (January 20, 2012). "Nortel trial: Former financial director saw disconnect between stated earnings and his understanding of Nortel's circumstances". The Star. Toronto. Archived from the original on January 23, 2012.
- "No business reason to release Nortel reserves, court told". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. September 6, 2012. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
- "SEC Charges Four Additional Former Officers of Nortel Networks Corporation in Financial Fraud Scheme: Lit. Rel. No. 20275 / September 12, 2007". sec.gov. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- Yahoo Archived January 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- "MSNBC". NBC News. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Zuill, Lilla (March 3, 2009). "Reuters". Archived from the original on March 7, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
- Fitzgerald, Jim. Madoff's financial empire audited by tiny firm: one guy Archived December 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Associated Press via Seattle Times, December 18, 2008.
- Ross, Brian (2015). The Madoff Chronicles. Kingswell. ISBN 9781401310295.
- Hamblett, Mark. Madoff's Accountant Acknowledges Guilt, Casts Himself as Victim. New York Law Journal, November 4, 2009.
Further reading
- John R. Emshwiller and Rebecca Smith, 24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America or Infectious Greed, HarperInformation, 2003, ISBN 0-06-052073-6
- Lawrence A. Cunningham, The Sarbanes-Oxley Yawn: Heavy Rhetoric, Light Reform (And It Might Just Work)
- Zabihollah Rezaee, Financial Statement Fraud: Prevention and Detection, Wiley 2002.
External links
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website
- U.S. President Bush's speech, 2002-07-09 NPR report (audio recording)
- "GMI Warns of Accounting Risks at 40 Companies", Accounting Today, November 27, 2012
- "The Impact of Fraud on Shareholder Value", Business Insider, June 18, 2013