...Satyam is a company that specializes in information technology, business services, computer software, and is a leading outsourcing company in India. The company grew quickly during the 1990s and 2000s as more and more companies around the world looked to India for outsourcing solutions. It eventually became the fourth largest outsourcing company in India. Satyam provides solutions to approximately 185 Fortune 500 companies throughout the world. The business community recognized Satyam as a global leader in information technology outsourcing. Satyam was as an example of India's growing success. It won numerous awards for innovation, governance, and corporate accountability. Unfortunately, less than five months after winning the Global Peacock Award which is a World Council for Corporate Governance, Satyam became the centerpiece of a massive accounting fraud. As stock markets around the world collapsed during 2008, the Indian Stock Exchange fell enormously. The enormous losses caused investors to withdraw large amounts of cash from their investments. These cash withdrawals in turn triggered the discovery of several cases of financial fraud as perpetrators could no longer hide the results. Mr. Raju, the founder of Satyam, and the company's global head of internal audit used a number of different techniques to perpetrate the fraud. He created numerous bank statements to advance the fraud and falsified the bank accounts to inflate the balance sheet with cash balances...
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...Fraud –Sathyam computers SUBMITTED BY: Abhijith Rajan AUD 2351 MBA (GENERAL) ABSTRACT From Satyam, we can see that corporate book keeping misrepresentation is a noteworthy issue that is raising both in its recurrence and seriousness. Exploration confirmation has demonstrated that these developing number of fakes have made undermined the trustworthiness of monetary reports, added to generous financial misfortunes, and disintegrated speculators' certainty with respect to the handiness and dependability of money related articulations. The expanding rate of these sort of law violations need to get hardened punishments, excellent disciplines, and powerful requirement of law with the right soul. An endeavor is made to inspect and investigate inside and out the Satyam Computer's "inventive bookkeeping" embarrassment, which conveyed to spotlight the significance of "morals and corporate administration" (CG). The extortion submitted by the authors of Satyam in 2009, is a demonstration of the way that "the art of behavior is influenced in huge by human eagerness, aspiration, and crave influence, cash, acclaim and wonderfulness". Dissimilar to Enron, which sank because of "organization" issue, Satyam was conveyed to its knee because of "burrowing" impact. The Satyam embarrassment highlights the significance of securities laws and CG in "developing" markets. Without a doubt, Satyam misrepresentation "prodded the administration of India to fix the CG standards to anticipate repeat...
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...Ethics in Management Accounting What are ethics? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ethics are defined as, “Rules or behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad.” Ethics are rooted in an individual or an entire group’s moral values that govern daily behavior and crucial decisions. From a professional perspective, ethics provide a given quality and ensures a fair practice. In terms of business, it is the moral duties and obligations that apply to various professions and their code of conduct. Ethics encompass a set of understood rules to guide the direction of a business, company, corporation, or organization. Ethics are essential and tremendously depended on in the profession of accounting. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, accounting is defined as, “The skill, system, or job of keeping the financial records of a business or person.” The system of accounting records financial transactions and analyzes, reports, and verifies the results. Accountants perform these tasks by establishing these reports through a system known as bookkeeping. The three common reports that are generated by accountants are balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. Each of these reports serve a crucial purpose to the success of a corporation. The balance sheet summarizes a company’s assets and liabilities. The income statement reports a company’s gross proceeds, profit or loss, and expenses. The cash flow statement analyzes the flow of incoming and...
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...Baluyot, Krishia Mae E. BSAV-2A Scandals that Rocked the Accounting World ❖ Enron Scandal The Enron Corporation led to bankruptcy Last October 2001. It is an American energy company based in Huston, Texas, and the termination of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the biggest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. Enron is also attributed as the biggest audit failure. Enron was founded in 1985 by Kenneth Lay after merging Houston Natural Gas and Inter North several years later. When Jeffrey Skilling was hired, he developed a staff of executive that, with the use of accounting loopholes special purpose entries, and poor financing reporting, were able to hide billions in debt from failed deals and projects. Shareholders lost nearly $11 billion when Enron's stock price, which hit a high of US$90 per share in mid-2000, plummeted to less than $1 by the end of November 2001. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began an investigation, and rival Houston competitor Dynegy offered to purchase the company at a fire sale price. The deal fell through, and on December 2, 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Enron's $63.4 billion in assets made it the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history until WorldCom's bankruptcy the following year. Many executives at Enron were indicted for a variety of charges and were later sentenced to prison. Enron's auditor, Arthur Andersen, was found guilty...
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...Ethics in Accounting By Pace University – New York Accounting for Decision Making, MBA 640 Fall 2011 Required Research Paper Page 1 of 11 Table of Contents Number Content Page Number 1 Introduction 3 2 Ethics in Accounting 4 3 Enron Scandal 6 4 Satyam Scandal 8 5 Conclusion 10 6 References 11 Page 2 of 11 Introduction • What is “Ethics”? Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics • What is “Accounting”? Accounting is basically maintaining and providing records of transfer of funds for an individual or business. All the data collected from these records are then summarized in form of reports and statements, which are used by outside parties and the company itself for various uses and analysis. Source: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/accounting.asp#axzz1fbCBL2q0 Page 3 of 11 Ethics in Accounting With many scandals and scams coming out regarding the unethical behavior of firms in terms of Business and accounting, higher authorities in governments across the globe are worried. These scams are disturbing and damaging the economy at large. When the economy is already sliding down, governments have started taking extra care and strict rules are being applied to control the damage...
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...– 3, introduce and discuss the situation and the current state. Conduct a stakeholder analysis and make recommendations for an improved outcome, using the same resources. Support your discussion with evidence from reputable resources, as well as content and concepts from the text. ANSWER I was overwhelmed while doing the internet news search to find an example of business that has abused its power. The search came up with so many examples that it made me realize that probably all the business abuse their position in some or the other way. There were many example to choose from but I chose “Corporate accounting scandal at Satyam “, which is also infamously called as India’s Enron. The reason why I selected this particular company is that I had my cousin brothers and sisters working for this company and this scandal affected our families in a big way. The background Scandals are like an iceberg, they represent the only visible catastrophic failure. Saytam Computers was founded By Mr. Ramalinga Raju who hailed form a traditional agriculture family of Andhra Pradesh, India in 1987 with a just 20 employees and converted the company got Public in 1992.The chairman of the company was the founder himself, Mr. Ramalinga Raju (Alias Raju) until January 7, 2009 when he resigned from the board of directors after admitting to corporate fraud. (Author HT correspondent, April, 9, 2015). The company offered consulting and information technology services to the various business sectors. The...
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...| IBA111 Management Concepts | | Luke Sutton | 10/8/2012 | Case for Critical Thinking: Satyam – the ‘Enron’ of India. | Table of Contents Background to case study1 introduction to management issues1 Identification of management issues2 rationalisation behind unethical behaviour2 corporate governance and social responsibility2 recommendations3 Implementation of recommendations3 references4 1.0 BACKGROUND The purpose of this case study is to identify the management issues of Satyam Computer Services Limited’s, former chairman Ramalinga Raju when he admitted to corporate fraud in 2009, and how these issues could be addressed. Satyam Computer Services Limited, (now known as Mahindra Satyam) is a “leading global information communications and technology company”. (Anon., n.d.) It is a part of the “US $15.4 billion dollar Mahindra group, a global industrial federation of companies of the top 10 business houses based in India”. (Anon., n.d., p. 1; Anon., n.d.)). 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT ISSUES “India’s corporate community experienced a significant shock in January 2009 with damaging revelations about board failure and colossal fraud in the financials of Satyam.” (Afsharipour, 2010)Ramalinga Raju and the CFO of the company were charged with “conspiracy, cheating and falsifying records. Raju was also allegedly using salary payments to fabricated employees, in order to steal money from the company.” (Anon., n.d.) This case study will explore the...
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...A special CBI court on Thursday sentenced B Ramalinga Raju, his two brothers and seven others to seven years in prison in the Satyam fraud case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore on Ramalinga Raju, the Satyam Computer Services Ltd's founder and former chairman, and his brother B Rama Raju and Rs 20-25 lakh each on the remaining accused. HT presents a lowdown of the country's biggest-ever corporate accounting scandal . What is the Satyam scam about? It is about corporate governance and fraudulent auditing practices allegedly in connivance with auditors and chartered accountants. The company misrepresented its accounts both to its board, stock exchanges, regulators, investors and all other stakeholders. Is this an accounting fraud, a market manipulation/fraud or both? It is a fraud, which misled the market and other stakeholders by lying about the company’s financial health. Even basic facts such as revenues, operating profits, interest liabilities and cash balances were grossly inflated to show the company in good health. Who is to blame here? The promoters? The promoters are primary culprits, although it is almost impossible to misrepresent such facts without the connivance of the auditors and some executive board members. Independent directors, it seems, were kept in the dark about the actual books of accounts. What about the auditors? The role of external third party auditors, who were tasked to ensure that no financial bungling is undertaken to carry...
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...Memo of law Question/Issue Presented What evidence can be found during a legal discovery and how does this affect the record-keeping policy of a business organization? Applicable Law and Ethical Standards Newby v. Enron Corp. , 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28397 (S.D. Tex. May 1, 2002) Newby v. Enron Corp. (In re Enron Cor... , 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1668, Fed. Sec. L. Rep. (CCH) P92404 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 28, 2003) United States v. Arthur Andersen LLP , 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26870 (S.D. Tex. May 24, 2002) 18 USCS § 1512 Discussion/Analysis (of Law and Facts) During a legal discovery which includes the procedures of Deposition, Interrogatories and Production of Documents there can be different evidence found depending on the area of work the business organization is involved in. An example could be that a company tried to create false documents with the intent to seem like a good investment or to avoid paying taxes. During a deposition evidence can be found that people questioned tell conflicting stories. It is crucial to be able to deliver the right documents requested during a discovery. Therefore, it is important to have an organized record-keeping policy for any organization. Furthermore, a business should keep its records as correct as possible and not be tempted to give in to fraud, changing documents or destroying important documents. A company should follow the law to keep the required documents. It would be a crime to hide, destroy and/or withhold subpoenaed...
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...Final Paper: Case Study of WorldCom Financial Statement Fraud Introduction This paper will discuss the financial statement fraud committed by WorldCom by examining what led up to the fraud, who committed it and why, and the impact it caused on various stakeholders and the economy. WorldCom applied aggressive and undisclosed accounting tactics to provide financial statements that reflected a $10 billion profit for the years 2000 and 2001, rather than the actual combined loss of $73.7 billion that occurred (Romar, 2006). Opportunity, pressure, and rationalization were all present in this severe example of financial statement fraud which had a devastating impact on stakeholders globally. Basis for Understanding Financial Statement Fraud Prior to taking a deep dive into this specific example, it is important to first understand what constitutes financial statement fraud. Financial statement fraud can be defined as “deliberate misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures of financial statements to deceive financial statement users, particularly investors and creditors” (Wells, 2011, p. 299). Financial statement frauds can be broken down into five distinct categories: fictitious revenues, improper asset valuations, concealed liabilities and expenses, timing differences, and improper disclosures” (Wells, 2011, p. 292). The History of WorldCom “WorldCom began in Mississippi as a small provider of long distance telephone services” (Lyke, 2002). However, due to deregulation...
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...Falling short of their words, we find the falling of this company through their illegal ethics that brings forward much of their self-interest needs and not those of the company and investors that they are responsible for and to. After the investigation, their accounting firm, Anderson, played both sides by providing dual services, auditing and consulting, which is considered a conflict of interest. They would take money from new investors and pay the old ones, they knew how to hide the debts and only show where there were profits. Falsifying documents and shredding of reports to hide what they didn’t want investors & employees to see as well. Senior executives cashing out their stocks to make millions for themselves and telling the rest of the company that they cannot cash out theirs, that it’s for the sake of the company to keep being invested. At the cost of the employees and investors, the executives were unethical, breaking the rules of the SEC and seek to gain it all for themselves, this is “self-interest” and illegal. They knew what they were doing, especially when it was reported by an Enron accountant saying she was “incredibly nervous that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals.” They never warned employees or the public of their problems, but instead Chairman Ken Lay lied to the staff. A distribution email was sent by him to the staff stating, “Our performance has never been stronger; our business model has never been more robust;...
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...(kickbacks, extortion); and fraudulent statements (financial statements, employment credentials)” (Akron/Canton, 2012). Without the knowledge of occupational fraud and abuse a company’s bottom line could be seriously affected. Not only does occupational fraud and abuse affect a company’s bottom line, but it can also affect employee morale, and customer loyalty. Undetected fraud and abuse can and has destroyed companies in the past and we as a company should make sure this does not happen. 2) U.S. governmental oversight of accounting fraud and abuse and its effect on the company. The United States government has implemented rules and regulations to handle occupational fraud and abuse. These rules and regulations come with penalties on companies and management personnel that have committed occupational fraud and abuse. In 2002 the United States government enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. The SOX act is an oversight that makes the top management certify that the financial...
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...Regardless of the term accounting in forensic accounting, the discipline isn’t related to simply reading financial statements that are available to the public or dealing with other accounting issues; the usual accountants, portfolio managers, investment analysts, and etc. already do the regular financial tasks. Instead, forensic accounting scrutinizes the financial documents that are internal which aren’t readily available to the public; these documents are usually considered in litigation affairs. Generally, the field of accounting was undergoing a major overhaul; before the recent economic crisis that has devastated some parts of the western world, the accounting scandals regarding WorldCom and Enron pushed the field towards change. Accounting in general was put under scrutiny as a result of increasing white collar crime and the economic crisis pushed that process even faster and further. Ergo, there was an increasing need to have forensic accountants and the field in general needs proper development in its education system and practice for it to be effective. Overall, the laws of the developed world favor the ones who commit white collar crimes rather than a person robbing a convenience store with a gun. The problem with policymaking in the current democratic regimes is that it’s a paradox that allows white collar crimes like WorldCom and Enron to get away or only end up with a milder outcome than the robbers who may physically go out and do it with a gun. Of course, debating...
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...REPORT OF INVESTIGATION BY THE SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF WORLDCOM, INC. Dennis R. Beresford Nicholas deB. Katzenbach C.B. Rogers, Jr. Counsel Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Accounting Advisors PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP March 31, 2003 I. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................. 1 A. The Nature of the Accounting Fraud....................................................................... 9 1. 2. B. C. D. E. Reduction of Reported Line Costs .............................................................. 9 Exaggeration of Reported Revenues ......................................................... 13 WorldCom’s Culture ............................................................................................. 18 Compromising Financial Arrangements ............................................................... 24 Why WorldCom’s Auditors Did Not Discover the Fraud..................................... 25 WorldCom’s Governance...................................................................................... 29 1. 2. 3. 4. Board’s Lack of Awareness of Accounting Fraud .................................... 29 Adequacy of Board’s Oversight of Company ........................................... 30 Stock Sales ................................................................................................ 33 Lease of Airplane to Chairman of Compensation Committee ......
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...their business elsewhere. 3. If Baidu.com could reassure their stakeholders that their information is reliable. And the companies that pay for advertising will receive the services expected. If they are unable to restore their creditability they could possibly go out of business as indicated by the drop in their stock. ‘5. By developing a culture of openness and by diminishing that culture of secrecy. And the government putting laws in place to determine the behavior of the country. WorldCom: The Final Catalyst 1. WorldCom created excess reserves or provisions for future expenses, which they later released or reduced, thereby adding to profits. The manipulation of profit through reserves or provisions is known as “cookie jar” accounting. According to the SEC first, WorldCom improperly released certain reserves held against operating expenses. Second, WorldCom improperly recharacterized certain operating costs as capital assets. 2. I am uncertain, but I believe the Arthur Andersen auditor lost its independence when conducting the WorldCom audit. Two members of upper management were previous employees of Arthur Andersen made personal. And the fact that Andersen’s...
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