The Enron Failure and the State of Corporate Disclosure George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Enron Failure and the State of Corporate Disclosure George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E Following the Moneythe The Enron Failure and the State of Corporate Disclosure George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page i Following the Money 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page iii Following the Money The Enron Failure and the State of Corporate Disclosure George Benston Michael Bromwich Robert E. Litan Alfred Wagenhofer - Washington, D.C. 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page iv Copyright © 2003 by AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., and the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without per- mission in writing from the AEI-Brookings Joint Center, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in news articles, critical articles, or reviews. Following the Money may be ordered from: Brookings Institution Press 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel.: (800) 275-1447 or (202) 797-6258 Fax: (202) 797-6004 www.brookings.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Following the money : the Enron failure and the state of corporate disclosure / George Benston . [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8157-0890-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Disclosure in accounting—United States. 2. Corporations—United States—Accounting. 3. Corporations—United States—Auditing. 4. Accounting—Standards—United States. 5. Financial statements—United States. 6. Capital market—United States. 7. Enron Corp.—Corrupt practices. I. Benston, George J. II. AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. HF5658.F65 2003 657'.95'0973—dc21 2003000068 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials: ANSI Z39.48-1984. Typeset in Adobe Garamond Composition by R. Lynn Rivenbark Macon, Georgia Printed by R. R. Donnelley Harrisonburg, Virginia 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page v Foreword nly a few short years ago, after the Asian financial crisis Oof 1997–98, Americans held out their systems of cor- porate governance and financial disclosure as models to be emulated by the rest of the world. Thomas Friedman, in his best-selling book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, cited these features of the U.S. economic system with approval. It was with some embarrassment then, and no little dismay, that begin- ning in late 2001 American policymakers and corporate leaders found themselves facing the largest corporate accounting scandals in American history. Although accounting irregularities had shown up in several large corporations in preceding years, they paled in comparison to the abuses uncovered at Enron, WorldCom, and a handful of other American corpo- rate giants. Both Enron and WorldCom went bankrupt. Criminal and civil investigations and lawsuits were pending in those and several other cases as 2002 drew to a close. The scandals led the Bush administration to call for far-reaching reforms in both the corporate governance and financial v 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page vi vi disclosure regimes. Congress quickly followed by enacting most of them, and others, in the Corporate Responsibility Act of 2002. Policymakers were not the only ones to take quick action in the wake of the scandals. The major stock exchanges—the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ—made fundamental changes to their listing require- ments. The private sector acted as well. Corporate boards of directors and managers now give disclosure issues far more attention and scrutiny than before. Accounting firms—watching in horror as one of their largest, Arthur Andersen, collapsed after a criminal conviction for document shredding—have tightened their auditing procedures. Stock analysts and ratings agencies, hit hard by a series of disclosures about their failings, have changed their practices as well. As embarrassed and shocked as Americans may have been about these events, they also can be proud that the U.S. political and economic system had enough strength to address the problems almost as soon as they were uncovered. But will these reforms be enough? Are some counterproductive? And are other shortcomings in the disclosure system, both in the United States and elsewhere, still in need of correction or at least serious attention by policymakers? These are among the questions that George Benston, Michael Brom- wich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer address in this book. The authors had begun the project that has culminated in this book even before the Enron scandal broke. As they explain, even setting the scandals aside, the corporate disclosure system needs to be updated to reflect changes in the underlying economy and to make full use of new communications and analytical technologies, the Internet in particular. The series of accounting scandals in 2001 and 2002, however, prompted the authors to shift direc- tion and to address specifically the nature of the problems those scandals revealed and the efficacy of the remedies that have since been adopted to address them. The broad message of this book is that while the various “fixes” should improve matters, some were unnecessary, and some problems remain unaddressed. The authors advance what are sure to be some controversial suggestions: that rather than attempt to craft a single set of accounting and reporting standards for all companies throughout the world, policymakers should allow a competition in standards, at least between the two major 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page vii vii sets (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, in the United States, and International Financial Reporting Standards); that policymak- ers should encourage experimentation in disclosure of a variety of nonfi- nancial indicators to better enable investors and analysts to ascertain the source and nature of intangible assets; and that policymakers should exploit the advantages of the Internet by encouraging more frequent financial dis- closures in a form that will make them more widely accessible and more easily used. This book could not come at a better time—when accounting and dis- closure issues are now at the top of the public policy agenda and very much on investors’ minds. The authors hope that the book will help contribute to better understanding of these issues. The authors are grateful to a number of individuals who have helped make this project and the book possible: to Sandip Sukhtankar and Chris Lyddy for research assistance; to Dennis Berresford, Robert K. Elliott, Robert Hahn, and Katherine Schipper for comments and suggestions on earlier drafts; to Martha Gottron and Margaret Langston for editorial assis- tance; to Gloria Paniagua for verification of the manuscript; and to Alicia Jones for secretarial support. The authors remain responsible, however, for the manuscript and its contents, any errors, or omissions. This book was prepared under the auspices, and with the funding, of the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. The Joint Center builds on the expertise of both sponsoring institutions on regulatory issues. The primary purpose of the Joint Center is to hold lawmakers and regula- tors accountable for their decisions by providing thoughtful, objective analysis of existing regulatory programs and new regulatory proposals. This book helps carry out this mission with its special focus on rules relating to corporate disclosure and governance. . Director . Codirector AEI-Brookings Joint Center on Regulatory Studies 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page ix Contents Foreword v 1 The Crisis in Corporate Disclosure 1 2 What’s Wrong—and Right—with Corporate Accounting and Auditing in the United States 18 3 Fixing Corporate Disclosure 49 4 Disclosure Challenges Ahead 80 appendix What Are the Major Differences between GAAP and IFRS, and Why Do They Matter? 95 Notes 105 Contributors 117 Index 119 ix 00-0890-FM 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page xi Following the Money 01-0890-CH 1 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page 1 The Crisis in 1 Corporate Disclosure nly a few short years ago, the American system of cor- Oporate disclosure—the combination of accounting and auditing standards, the professionalism of auditors, and the rules and prac- tices of corporate governance that are designed to ensure the timely dis- semination of relevant and accurate corporate financial information—was championed as a model for the rest of the world. In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, which was marked by among other things a woeful lack of disclosure by companies, commercial banks, and even central banks, American commentators and experts were urging not only Asian countries, but others as well, to adopt the key features of the U.S. disclosure system. How much has changed since then! A corporate disclosure system that Americans thought was beyond reproach has turned out to be flawed in ways that few would have imagined or dared suggest only a few years ear- lier. The shift in attitude is reflected in various measures, among them earnings restatements. The number of American corporations whose earn- ings have been restated rose modestly throughout the 1990s, but then took 1 01-0890-CH 1 1/30/03 9:33 AM Page 2 a big jump in 1998 and hit a peak of more than 200 in 1999.1 All the while, concern has continued to mount about “earnings management” by many companies. Under this practice, strongly decried by Arthur Levitt, a recent past chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), firms exploit the discretion allowed under accounting rules to ensure that their earnings show continued growth or at least reach the quarterly earn- ings estimates put out by financial analysts.
Recommended publications
  • Enron and One.Tel: Employee Entitlements After Employer Insolvency in the United States and Australia - (Australian Renegades Championing the American Dream)
    SMU Law Review Volume 56 Issue 2 Article 10 2003 Enron and One.Tel: Employee Entitlements after Employer Insolvency in the United States and Australia - (Australian Renegades Championing the American Dream) Louise W. Floyd Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/smulr Recommended Citation Louise W. Floyd, Enron and One.Tel: Employee Entitlements after Employer Insolvency in the United States and Australia - (Australian Renegades Championing the American Dream), 56 SMU L. REV. 975 (2003) https://scholar.smu.edu/smulr/vol56/iss2/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in SMU Law Review by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. ENRON AND ONE.TEL: EMPLOYEE ENTITLEMENTS AFTER EMPLOYER INSOLVENCY IN THE UNITED STATES AND AUSTRALIA (AUSTRALIAN RENEGADES CHAMPIONING THE AMERICAN DREAM?) Louise W. Floyd* Enron 401(k) Chief Defends Handling of Plan, Discloses He Sold Stock in June -The Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2002.' Scandal of unpaid workers-The One. Tel Meltdown -The Australian, June 6, 2001.2 ARGE-scale corporate collapse is, sadly, a familiar problem in the United States and Australia. The issues raised by such calamities, in terms of corporate governance and accounting standards, are being addressed by articles in the fall edition of this journal that deal with * Barrister, Supreme Courts of New South Wales and Queensland; Lecturer in Law, T.C. Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland, Australia. The author wishes to thank the many people who enriched her life and understanding of American law and culture throughout her 2002 sabbatical to the United States, during which time this article was written.
    [Show full text]
  • Essays on Financial Communication in Earnings Conference Calls
    Essays on Financial Communication in Earnings Conference Calls Xiaoxi Wu This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2019 Department of Accounting and Finance Abstract Earnings conference calls are an important platform of financial communication. They provide researchers with unique opportunities to observe firm managers’ and financial analysts’ interactions and natural communication style in a daily-task environment. Relying on multidisciplinary theories and methods, this dissertation studies financial communication in conference calls from both the managers’ and the sell-side analysts’ perspectives. It consists of three self-contained studies. Chapter 2 focuses on managers’ communication strategies in conference calls. It explores, in the small non-negative earnings surprises setting, whether non-manipulators design communication strategies to separate themselves from earnings manipulators, and whether manipulators pool through obfuscation. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on sell-side analysts’ communication behaviour in conference calls. Chapter 3 examines how analysts’ people skills affect their communication behaviour and relationships with firm management. Chapter 4 applies both qualitative and quantitative discourse analyses and investigates how analysts use linguistic politeness strategies to establish socially desirable identities in publicly accessible analyst-manager interactions. The three studies combined contribute to the accounting literature by furthering our understanding of managers’ and analysts’
    [Show full text]
  • Robert A. Scandlon, Jr., Et Al. V. Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Et Al. 11-CV
    Case3:11-cv-04293-RS Document14 Filed10/31/11 Page1 of 2 1 Nicole Lavallee (SBN 165755) Anthony D. Phillips (SBN 259688) 2 BERMAN DEVALERIO One California Street, Suite 900 3 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 433-3200 4 Facsimile: (415) 433-6282 Email: [email protected] 5 [email protected] 6 Liaison Counsel for Proposed Lead Plaintiff Inter-Local Pension Fund and 7 Proposed Liaison Counsel for the Class 8 Mark S. Willis SPECTOR ROSEMAN KODROFF & 9 WILLIS, P.C. 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 10 Suite 600 Washington, DC 20004 11 Telephone: (202) 756-3600 Facsimile: (202) 756 3602 12 Email: [email protected] 13 Attorneys for Proposed Lead Plaintiff Inter-Local Pension Fund and 14 Proposed Lead Counsel for the Class 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 18 ROBERT A. SCANDLON, JR., On behalf of ) Himself and All Others Similarly Situated, ) No. CV 11-04293 (RS) 19 ) ) DECLARATION OF ROBERT M. 20 Plaintiff, ) ROSEMAN IN SUPPORT OF THE ) MOTION OF THE INTER-LOCAL 21 v. ) ) PENSION FUND’S MOTION FOR APPOINTMENT AS LEAD 22 BLUE COAT SYSTEMS, INC., BRIAN M. ) NESMITH and GORDON C. BROOKS, ) PLAINTIFF AND FOR APPROVAL 23 Defendants. ) OF ITS SELECTION OF LEAD ) COUNSEL 24 ) ) CLASS ACTION 25 ) ) Date: December 8, 2011 26 ) Time: 1:30 p.m. ) Dept.: Courtroom 3 27 ) Judge: Hon. Richard Seeborg 28 [CV 11-04293 (RS)] D ECL . OF ROBERT M. ROSEMAN ISO I NTER-LOCAL PENSION FUND ' S M OT. FOR A PPOINTMENT OF L EAD PL . & A PPOINTMENT OF LEAD COUNSEL Case3:11-cv-04293-RS Document14 Filed10/31/11
    [Show full text]
  • Top 100 for 1H 2015
    ` Top 100 for 1H 2015 Securities Class Action Services, LLC Published: September 28, 2015 Executive Summary ISS Securities Class Action Services tracked 61 settlements for the first half of 2015, up from from 53 settlements seen duringthe first half of 2014. Out of the 61 settlement agreements, five settlements ranked in the ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 100 for 1H 2015, which amounted for a 450 percent increase in settlement funds when compared to the same period in the previous year. The cases identified include: › American International Group, Inc. (2008) (S.D.N.Y.), which brought the highest settlement fund($900 million for approximately 200 eligible securities). › Bear Stearns Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates › IndyMac Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates (Individual & Underwriter Defendants) › Activision Blizzard, Inc. › Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) (2008) Out of the five settlements, four were filed in the federal courts during the midst of the financial credit crisis, while one was filed in the state court relating to the company’s private sale transaction. Two of the five were alleged violating Rule 10b-5 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices) while three were alleged violations of the Securities Act of 1933 (Civil Liabilities on Account of False Registration Statement). Two of the five settlements relate to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and have restated their financial during the relevant periods. Of the five settlements, two were identified in the S&P Index. One SEC initiated settlement placed in the Top 30 SEC Disgorgement amounting to $200 Million. The Securities Class Action Services Tentative Settlement Pipeline stands $17.3 Billion as of 31 July 2015.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case of Corporate Deceit: the Enron Way / 18 (7) 3-38
    NEGOTIUM Revista Científica Electrónica Ciencias Gerenciales / Scientific e-journal of Management Science PPX 200502ZU1950/ ISSN 1856-1810 / By Fundación Unamuno / Venezuela / REDALYC, LATINDEX, CLASE, REVENCIT, IN-COM UAB, SERBILUZ / IBT-CCG UNAM, DIALNET, DOAJ, www.jinfo.lub.lu.se Yokohama National University Library / www.scu.edu.au / Google Scholar www.blackboard.ccn.ac.uk / www.rzblx1.uni-regensburg.de / www.bib.umontreal.ca / [+++] Cita / Citation: Amol Gore, Guruprasad Murthy (2011) A CASE OF CORPORATE DECEIT: THE ENRON WAY /www.revistanegotium.org.ve 18 (7) 3-38 A CASE OF CORPORATE DECEIT: THE ENRON WAY EL CASO ENRON. Amol Gore (1) and Guruprasad Murthy (2) VN BRIMS Institute of Research and Management Studies, India Abstract This case documents the evolution of ‘fraud culture’ at Enron Corporation and vividly explicates the downfall of this giant organization that has become a synonym for corporate deceit. The objectives of this case are to illustrate the impact of culture on established, rational management control procedures and emphasize the importance of resolute moral leadership as a crucial qualification for board membership in corporations that shape the society and affect the lives of millions of people. The data collection for this case has included various sources such as key electronic databases as well as secondary data available in the public domain. The case is prepared as an academic or teaching purpose case study that can be utilized to demonstrate the manner in which corruption creeps into an ambitious organization and paralyses the proven management control systems. Since the topic of corporate practices and fraud management is inherently interdisciplinary, the case would benefit candidates of many courses including Operations Management, Strategic Management, Accounting, Business Ethics and Corporate Law.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pattern of Fraudulent Accounting : Ethics, External Auditing and Internal Whistle-Blowing Process
    Journal of Governance and Regulation / Volume 5, Issue 4, 2016 THE PATTERN OF FRAUDULENT ACCOUNTING : ETHICS, EXTERNAL AUDITING AND INTERNAL WHISTLE-BLOWING PROCESS Loredana Ferri Di Fabrizio * * University “Gabriele d’Annunzio”, Chieti-Pescara, Italy Abstract How to cite this paper: Ferri Di The ongoing debate in the literature centres on the compromised Fabrizio, L., (2017). The Pattern Of auditor’s independence in consequence of the relevant provisions Fraudulent Accounting : Ethics, External Auditing And Internal Whistle-Blowing perceived for non-audit services provided to the audited clients. Process. Journal of Governance and The accounting scandals that have occurred over the past two Regulation, 6(1), 12-25. decades show the lack of competence and independence of external http://dx.doi.org/10.22495/jgr_v6_i1_p2 auditors, who kept quite in the face of attempted frauds. The case Copyright © 2017 The Author of Tesco represents an undeniable example of the loss of auditor’s independence, who failed to detect accounting manipulation This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial confirming the importance of whistle-blowing procedures in 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) disclosing concerns before they become serious problems. When http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b turnover occurs in CEOs it is more likely that a rotation in external y-nc/4.0/ auditors occurs as well. Finally, changes in top management enable ISSN Online: 2220-9352 whistle-blowing actions to be successful, interrupting the ISSN Print: 2306-6784 organization’s dependence on serious wrongdoings and preventing Received: 26.11.2016 a disastrous ending. The success of whistle-blowing in preventing Accepted: 20.12.2016 company failure makes it an effective instrument of сorporate пovernance.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Section 13F Securities
    List of Section 13F Securities 1st Quarter FY 2004 Copyright (c) 2004 American Bankers Association. CUSIP Numbers and descriptions are used with permission by Standard & Poors CUSIP Service Bureau, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. No redistribution without permission from Standard & Poors CUSIP Service Bureau. Standard & Poors CUSIP Service Bureau does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the CUSIP Numbers and standard descriptions included herein and neither the American Bankers Association nor Standard & Poor's CUSIP Service Bureau shall be responsible for any errors, omissions or damages arising out of the use of such information. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission OFFICIAL LIST OF SECTION 13(f) SECURITIES USER INFORMATION SHEET General This list of “Section 13(f) securities” as defined by Rule 13f-1(c) [17 CFR 240.13f-1(c)] is made available to the public pursuant to Section13 (f) (3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [15 USC 78m(f) (3)]. It is made available for use in the preparation of reports filed with the Securities and Exhange Commission pursuant to Rule 13f-1 [17 CFR 240.13f-1] under Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. An updated list is published on a quarterly basis. This list is current as of March 15, 2004, and may be relied on by institutional investment managers filing Form 13F reports for the calendar quarter ending March 31, 2004. Institutional investment managers should report holdings--number of shares and fair market value--as of the last day of the calendar quarter as required by Section 13(f)(1) and Rule 13f-1 thereunder.
    [Show full text]
  • Creative Accounting, Fraud and International Accounting Scandals
    Creative Accounting, Fraud and International Accounting Standards Michael Jones University of Bristol [email protected] 1 Overview • Based on Book: Creative Accounting, Fraud and International Accounting Scandals • Investigates nature of creative accounting and fraud • Examines history of accounting scandals • Looks at creative accounting, fraud and accounting scandals in 13 countries worldwide • Focus on political aspects 2 Creative Accounting 3 Two Quotes “How do you explain to an intelligent public that it is possible for two companies in the same industry to follow entirely different accounting principles and both get a true and fair audit report?” M. Lafferty “Every company in the country is fiddling its profits”. I. Griffiths 4 Definitions 1. Fair Presentation Using the flexibility within accounting to give a true and fair picture of the accounts so that they serve the interests of users 5 Definitions 2. Creative Accounting Using the flexibility within accounting to manage the measurement and presentation of the accounts so that they serve the interests of preparers 6 Definitions 3. Impression Management Using the flexibility of the accounts (especially narrative and graphs) to convey a more favourable view than is warranted of a company’s results serving the interests of preparers 7 Definitions 4. Fraud Stepping outside the Regulatory Framework deliberately to give a false picture of the accounts 8 Definitions No Flexibility to give Flexibility to Flexibility to Flexibility a “true and fair“ give a give a view creative view fraudulent view Regulatory Working within Working within Working framework regulatory regulatory framework outside eliminates framework to ensure to serve preparer’s regulatory accounting choice users’ interests interests framework Within regulatory framework Outside regulatory framework 9 Managerial Motivation 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Conspiracy of Fools”
    Submitted version of review published in GARP Risk Review Review of “Conspiracy of Fools” Joe Pimbley Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy of Fools (Broadway Books, 2005) is a spellbinding account of the rise and fall of Enron. In nearly 700 pages the reader finds answers to “what happened?” and “how did it happen?” Based on retrospective interviews with more than a hundred primary and secondary actors in this drama, the author creates multiple, parallel story lines. He jumps back and forth between these sub-plots in a manner that maintains energy and gives the reader many natural stopping points. The great strengths of Conspiracy are that it’s thorough, extremely well- written, captivating, and, finally, it rings true. The author avoids the easy, simple conclusions that all the executives are “guilty” of crimes or plain greed and that the media-lionized whistle-blower is pure of heart. We see the ultimate outcome as personal tragedies for Jeff Skilling (President) and Ken Lay (CEO) even though they are undeniably culpable. Culpability and guilt are not synonymous, however, and different readers will have widely different judgments to render on these two men. The view of Andrew Fastow is not so murky. He and a handful of his associates did indeed lie, cheat, and steal for personal gain. Fastow’s principle “contribution” to Enron was the creation of structured finance transactions to skirt accounting rules. This one-sentence description doesn’t tell the reader much. Eichenwald gives many examples to flesh out the concept. The story of “Alpine Investors” provides the simplest case. The company wished to sell the Zond Corporation, a wind-farm operator, prior to the closing of Enron’s purchase of Portland General.
    [Show full text]
  • Auditing Techniques to Avoid Cost Accounting Frauds
    Volume 7 No 2 (2018) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2018.134 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Auditing Techniques to Avoid Cost Accounting Frauds Vedat Akman Beykent University, Turkey | [email protected] Berkan Acar Yalova University, Turkey | [email protected] Cevdet Kızıl Istanbul Medeniyet University, Turkey | [email protected] Volume 10 No 1 (2020) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2020.210 | http://emaj.pitt.edu |Abstract Today, we observe the importance of accuracy of financial statements in every corporation. Accounting scandals have caused important losses both in the macro and micro levels. This issue proves the significance of financial statement accuracy. This accuracy is provided by the trust environment. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the required environment of confidence for financial markets to improve and function effectively against increasing accounting frauds gradually. That can only be possible by using different auditing techniques, running inventory counting such as cash and stock, establishing strong internal controls, managing efficiently and benefiting from technology integrated auditing. The aim of this study is to investigate the most effective auditing techniques to avoid cost accounting frauds. In this research, the most effective auditing techniques for detecting and preventing fraud are investigated by using the case analysis method. Also, the well known scandals related with Olympus, Worldcom, Tesco, Sunbeam and Parmalat companies are examined as a part of the case analysis. Finally, recommendations and suggestions regarding fraud prevention methods are presented. Keywords: Accounting, Cost Accounting, Auditing, Scandals, Fraud New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
    [Show full text]
  • In Light of the Recent Corporate Accounting Scandals, Business
    International Business & Economics Research Journal – February 2007 Volume 6, Number 2 Corporate Ethics: China vs. USA Peng S. Chan, (E-mail: [email protected]), California State University, Fullerton Dennis Pollard, (E-mail: [email protected]), California State University, Fullerton Shirley Chuo, (E-mail: [email protected]), American InterContinental University ABSTRACT Fairness is one of the basic aspects of business exchange. Ethics are principles used to establish fairness. This study will look at background and origins for different American and Chinese ethical beliefs. It is important for U.S. and Chinese firms to understand each other’s cultural perspectives, especially as the Chinese market opens up. Methods to resolve ethical conflict will be reviewed. Business agents from both cultures can relate and deal with each other if they have the knowledge, skills, and patience to do so. This study builds on prior research that suggests that younger Chinese are more concerned with profit than with abiding by regulations or adhering to corporate ethics. The major argument of this study is that future Chinese business leaders, born after China’s one- child policy was implemented in 1979, will be primarily concerned with self-interest and making decisions that will benefit them individually. Guanxi (interpersonal connections or human relationships), corporate ethics and social responsibility (CESR) beliefs will be reduced in importance and influence. American managers should incorporate this information when formulating a “China strategy”. INTRODUCTION ne of the most fundamental aspects of business is fairness. When two parties meet to transact business each desires to obtain a product that is of least equal value for the item they are exchanging.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Presentational Changes to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures: an Historic Analysis of an Electricity Company Quinn, M., & Ruane, H
    The evolution of presentational changes to Corporate social responsibility disclosures: An historic analysis of an electricity company Quinn, M., & Ruane, H. (2018). The evolution of presentational changes to Corporate social responsibility disclosures: An historic analysis of an electricity company. Revista de Ciências Empresariais e Jurídicas, 30, 7. Published in: Revista de Ciências Empresariais e Jurídicas Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights © 2019 The Authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, provided the author and source are cited and new creations are licensed under the identical terms. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected]. Download date:24. Sep. 2021 RCEJ/Rebules | N.º 30 - 2018 | pp.
    [Show full text]