...HealthSouth: The Scrushy Way Vonetta M. Henderson Northcentral University Introduction The Enron and Tyco scandals brought visibility to corporate scandals. The magnitude of these scandals resulted in the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act in 2002. Richard M. Scrushy and HealthSouth Corporation were the first CEO and company to be indicted under the SOX Act. HealthSouth was charged with filing false financial statements with the SEC to hid poor financial conditions from Wall Street. An audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that HealthSouth overstated its cumulative earnings between $3.8 billion to $4.6 billion (Weld, Bergevin, & Magrath, 2004). Although Scrushy was charged with 85 counts, he pled not-guilty, claiming that he was unaware of the fraudulent activities that had occurred. Scrushy was later exonerated as the investigation into the company found no evidence that Scrushy orchestrated or participated in any financial wrongdoings. Five financial executives and 10 other company officials pled guilty to a variety of charges. Background Richard M. Scrushy founded Amcare, Inc. in 1984. The company opened its first facility in Little Rock, Arkansas and one year later opened a facility in Birmingham and changed its name to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Corporation (HRC). In 1986, HRC went public with its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange (HealthSouth Corporation, 2010). In 1988, HRC moved to...
Words: 1035 - Pages: 5
...page: HealthSouth and the Scrushy Way p. 1 3. Table of Contents p. 2 4. Introduction p. 3 5. Government Subsidies p. 3 6. Signs of Corruption p. 4 7. Ethical issues of HealthSouth p. 5 8. Management of HealthSouth p. 5 9. Intimidation and Cooperation p. 6 10. Culture of Corruption p. 7 11. Lavish Lifestyle and Philanthropy p. 8 12. Impact on Stakeholders p. 9 13. Charges p. 10 14. Outcome and Fairness of Punishment p. 10 15. Conclusion p. 12 16. References p. 13 HealthSouth and the Scrushy Way Richard Scrushy overcame challenging teenage years, dropping out of high school and later obtaining his GED to become one of the most successful executives in the United States. Scrushy did so by subsequently getting his respiratory therapist certification and opening his own rehabilitation center, an all-in-one medical facility that led many to copy his idea. Scrushy founded HealthSouth in 1996 using $1 million in seed capital and turned it into a hugely successful medical services empire worth over $4 billion at its prime (Haddad, Weintraub, & Grow, 2003). HealthSouth had become the largest provider of outpatient surgery, rehabilitation, and diagnostic and imaging services as well as the third largest publicly held company in Alabama (Chaubey, 2006). Scrushy is best known, however,...
Words: 3288 - Pages: 14
...Accounting South University October 9, 2013 THE ORGANIZATION In 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged HealthSouth Corporation, the nations’ largest provider of outpatient surgery, diagnostic and rehabilitative healthcare services, and its Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Richard M. Scrushy with a massive accounting fraud. Scrushy, along with several of his former colleagues allegedly inflated HealthSouth’s pre-tax earnings. [Knapp] Founded in 1984 in Birmingham, Alabama, with more than 50,000 employees and nearly 2000 facilities across all states, HealthSouth earned recognition as a top-five performer in the S&P 500 index. This thriving company grew rapidly and became publicly traded within two years of existence. The company is believed to have overstated its profits by at least 1.4 billion since 1999, in order to meet or exceed Wall Street earnings expectations and maintain market price for stock. [Press Release 2003] THE ALLEGIATION The allegation came just after an earnings restatement and insider-trading charge triggered the investigation, sending HealthSouth stock tumbling to a record low. [Romano 2003] Many attempts at whistle blowing were suppressed, when employees expressed concerns due to falsification of documents. One accountant in particular, was quickly silenced and moved to a dead end job outside of Accounting. Scrushy had no tolerance for disappointing Wall Street; thus he and his team, came up with ways to defraud,...
Words: 1328 - Pages: 6
...it they were labeled a co-conspirator. This study will examine the people behind the much publicized fraud scheme at HealthSouth. Some did not set out to commit white-collar crime but found themselves as defendants in criminal trials for fraud. In the HealthSouth case in observation, real life examples of people who were "just doing their job" but at some point crossed the line from law-abiding citizens to law-breaking villains. Seemingly small compromises in ethics and morality led to a full-scale commitment to fraud. Finally, we will conclude that nobody sets out in their career to end up in prison cleaning toilets and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal after they are arrested for fraud. At some point, though, many end up that way. A. Background of the Study The study all about the recent accounting scandal that were reported : “The HealthSouth Scandal of 2003” as the researcher has become interested in finding out what made some this issue to happen. B. Statement of the Problem This study all about the story of the recent accounting scandal that were reported: “The HealthSouth Scandal of 2003”. It seeks to answer the following questions: 1. How is...
Words: 1856 - Pages: 8
...Health South: The Scrushy Way It is a cliché that “crime does not pay.” Seemingly when one has the charisma to lead a multi-billion dollar corporation, and power to affect the well-being of thousands, perhaps crime does pay – in the short term. It’s easy to rationalize that what one does is not a crime “if it hurts no one,” or if one is doing amazing amounts of charity work. Richard M. Scrushy is a case in point – he seemed to have it all, the all-American success story, yet dishonesty, and unethical practices, when engaged in hurt everyone – for a long time. As this author has explored through this Business Ethics class, unethical behavior looks only at the short-term, what can one get now? The Carpenter taught, regarding those who did not follow wisdom, that they were “like unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:26-27, King James Version). The character of the individual who cheats, or takes advantage of others, gets bent out of shape and distorted, until it is no longer strong enough to provide a sure foundation, and without that they fall and they hurt themselves and those around them. Impact on Stakeholders In the house that Scrushy built, this author identifies several stakeholders impacted by the dishonesty, including: Richard Scrushy, his management team, his board of directors, his employees, the patients...
Words: 3537 - Pages: 15
...the Learner’s without properly citing the source of the work will be considered plagiarism and will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course, and may result in academic dismissal. | | MGT7019-8 | Dr. Janis McFaul | | | Ethics in Business | Assignment 8 | | | ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Faculty Use Only ------------------------------------------------- Layla: ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Paper- Health South: The Scrushy way Layla O. Mora Northcentral University MGT7109-8 Janis McFaul, PhD November 15, 2012 Table of Contents: Introduction 1. Fraudulent activities perfumed by HealthSouth 2. Impact on stakeholders a. Impact on internal employees b. Impact on shareholders c. Impact on government and other involved parties 3. Factors affected HealthSouth culture 4....
Words: 3554 - Pages: 15
...FROM GREAT TO GHASTLY: HOW TOXIC ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES POISON COMPANIES THE RISE AND FALL OF ENRON, WORLDCOM, HEALTHSOUTH, AND TYCO INTERNATIONAL David R. Lease, Norwich University Abstract This paper presents an analytical and comparative study of four recent corporate scandals involving organizations that had previously been recognized as both ethically and organizationally sound. Based on these case studies, the following issues are discussed: (1) The role of leader behavior and organizational/leadership styles in shaping the corporate organizational culture of an organization, and (2) The extent to which this culture renders the organization and its members (including the top executives) prone to ethical misbehavior. The four companies selected for this case analysis are: Enron Corporation, WorldCom, Inc., Tyco International, Ltd., and HealthSouth Corporation. Each case is considered individually. The basic elements in the scandal are outlined and the principal aspects of each organization’s corporate culture discussed, with special emphasis on the influence of leadership styles and leadership behavior/practices on organizational culture. The four cases are then compared and contrasted in the light of the existing evidence on the relation between corporate culture and ethical misbehavior. PRELUDE “We were doing something special. Magical. It wasn’t a job – it was a mission. We were changing the world. We were doing God’s work.” – Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron COO, President...
Words: 15928 - Pages: 64
...Chapter Four Professional Accounting in the Public Interest, Post-Enron Purpose of the Chapter When the Enron, Arthur Andersen, and WorldCom debacles triggered the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), a new era of stakeholder expectations was crystallized for the business world and particularly for the professional accountants that serve in it. The drift away from the professional accountant’s role as a fiduciary to that of a businessperson was called into question and reversed. The principles that the new expectations spawned and renewed resulted in changes in how the professional accountants are to behave, what services are to be offered, and what performance standards are to be met. These standards have been embedded in a new governance structure and in guidance mechanisms, which have domestic and international components. The influence of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) will be as important as that of SOX in the long run. This chapter examines each of these developments and provides insights into important areas of current and future practice. Building upon the understanding of the new stakeholder accountability framework facing clients and employers developed in earlier chapters, this chapter explores public expectations for the role of the professional accountant and the principles that should be observed in discharging that role. This leads to consideration of the implications for services to be...
Words: 62999 - Pages: 252
...More Than a Numbers Game A Brief Histor y of Accounting Thomas A. King John Wiley & Sons, Inc. More Than a Numbers Game More Than a Numbers Game A Brief Histor y of Accounting Thomas A. King John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright © 2006 by Thomas A. King. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability...
Words: 65244 - Pages: 261
