Free Essay

Mr Richards

In: Business and Management

Submitted By mkamal05
Words 1139
Pages 5
1.How serious were Stephen Richard’s actions? Why?

Stephen Richard's actions in this can be viewed as extremely serious because he used his high position of power in sales to coerce clients into boosting sales earnings by quarter. This led to "overly aggressive accounting practices" to boost their reported earnings. Evidence supported that the managerial use of discretion to greatly influence reported earnings was not only used by Richards', but it had become a company-wide practice. This naturally drew the attention of the DOJ and the SEC as they investigated the potential wrongdoings. Investigators found enough evidence to prove that the former CFO illegally facilitated the backdating of many contracts.

Richards' involvement, as the global head of sales, included facilitating extensions of the fiscal quarter, allowing other employees to obtain contracts after the quarter-end (to boost reported earnings), and he failed to bring to the accounting and finance departments' attention that contracts may have been backdated. Stephen Richard's actions are notably serious because he had knowledge of the wrongdoings and he was in a position to report it, but he chose not to.
1 Alternative: Richards, as the head of the sales at Computer Associates (1) allowed the practice of extending CA’s fiscal quarter to reach the company’s revenue target. He also allowed his subordinates to (2) negotiate and obtain contracts after the end of the quarter ignoring the fact that the revenue for those contracts would improperly recognized by the company and he knowingly failed to alert the CA’s finance and accounting department that the contracts were obtained with backdated signature dates after the end of the quarter.
As a consequence of the above mentioned improper practice, the company found itself misrepresenting and omitting its revenue and earnings. For the first, second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2000, for example, CA inflated improperly its revenues by 25%, 53%, 46% and 22%, respectively by including prematurely recognized revenue from contracts that the company signed after the quarter close. The reason of that practice was to meet or beat per-share earnings estimates of Wall Street analysts, a key to keeping a company's stock price rising, but CA made a big mistake when failed to disclose that those reported results included prematurely recognized revenue and thus, did not comply with GAAP.
The most extreme case that occurred in the second quarter of 2000 highlights clearly how the misreporting affected considerably the company’s revenue and earnings, when the company reported $557,7 million in revenues beyond the $1.047 billion that it could properly claim and that made the company report 60 cents (0.60) in earnings per share, beating the consensus Wall Street forecast of 59 cents (0.59) while without improperly recognized revenue, earnings would have been a mere 5 cents (0.05) per share and thus, the stock price might have fallen instead of increased as announced.
2. my opinion on Richard's actions wouldn't really change because he violated the rules of accounting and reporting in numerous ways to achieve the financial results that CA did, under false pretenses. This also brings up morale and ethical concerns that I didn't get into, because I could go on forever! I can only go on the facts of this case and Richard's actions. If the high financial results were realized through honest, legal accounting practices, that would be highly commendable. There really is no such thing as "flexible and legit" accounting practices, but that's just my opinion. The SEC has strict guidelines for a reason, or else every business would make up their own rationale for how they report earnings or close quarters and it would make it difficult to audit and justify any faults with too much flexibility.

4. The motivation to manage earnings comes in part from management’s responsibility to direct the entity’s operations in a way that achieves targeted results. The motivation also comes from pressures on management from sources both outside and inside the entity. External pressures come principally from the capital markets. Many observers believe that Wall Street’s expectations significantly affect both appropriate and inappropriate management behaviors. Members of top management are especially subject to pressures to demonstrate that shareholder value has grown as a consequence of their leadership. Boards of directors are subject to pressures from stakeholders to enhance the value of the entity, and they in turn create internal pressures on management to meet financial and other goals and ensure the growth and prosperity of the entity. Boards oversee the stewardship of management and prescribe the basis for measuring performance and rewarding or penalizing management. Pressures by top management on others at different levels of the entity are everyday occurrences and are a natural part of the performance evaluation process.
6. Suppose you were placed in Stephen Richard’s position at Computer Associates and you were under pressure to extend the fiscal quarter. How would you handle the situation differently? What would be the expected consequences?

If placed in Richard's position at Computer Associates (CA) and the pressures associated with his high-level, high-stress position, I would not have extended the fiscal quarters or knowingly "overlooked" or encouraged the backdating of contracts, regardless of the overwhelming pressures by the analyst community which he writes about in his letter. I think too much emphasis was placed on achieving financial gains quickly, for Richards and other members of management, without devising the proper (and legal) strategies necessary to achieve CA's goals for success. I would have recommended a horizontal management structure, which places a "checks and balances" of sorts on the level of control that top management possesses. Richards' notes in his letter that the board was "too far removed" to know the day-to-day operations of the business. This would be another huge red flag to me that change needs to occur to realign the organization so that all stakeholders are engaged in decision making factors for its daily operations.

Performance measurement also appears to be a key level of concern in this case. There was also no real structure as far as milestones for growth; CA seemed to follow more of a "you're in or you're out" type of cultural attitude, which as has been proved here, can lead to catastrophic results relating from poor decision making and lack of organizational structure and control. Had CA engaged in a horizontal approach, with accountability at all levels of the organization, stronger performance measurements (not based on financial growth alone), and better accounting controls in place to recognize and report any deficiencies, they would have alleviated the legal troubles they led themselves to. The expected consequences would be that it may take longer to reach their financial targets (through slow, steady growth), but top management and other employees would be working towards attaining common goals that do not violate regulations.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Mr. Rainsford In Richard Connell's Most Dangerous Game

...Rainsford’s Most Dangerous Game Good vs. evil is a widely known prompt in stories, movies, TV shows, etc. The villains and the heroes fighting to be the victor. It’s a dangerous game to play. Although for Mr.Rainsford, General Zaroff’s game is the most dangerous he will ever play. Throughout the time Rainsford spends on the lost island, he shows some traits that prove to be the undoubtful reasons he was able to break free from General Zaroff’s “hunting” trip. In The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell, Rainsford is a intelligent, moralistic, and strong willed character who shows us that if you stick to your beliefs, good will always triumph over evil. Rainsford is an extremely intelligent character in the story, The Most Dangerous Game....

Words: 434 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Turn of the Screw

...home after the previous governess died. Douglas begins to read from the written record, and the story shifts to the governess’s point of view as she narrates her strange experience. The governess begins her story with her first day at Bly, the country home, where she meets Flora and a maid named Mrs. Grose. The governess is nervous but feels relieved by Flora’s beauty and charm. The next day she receives a letter from her employer, which contains a letter from Miles’s headmaster saying that Miles cannot return to school. The letter does not specify what Miles has done to deserve expulsion, and, alarmed, the governess questions Mrs. Grose about it. Mrs. Grose admits that Miles has on occasion been bad, but only in the ways boys ought to be. The governess is reassured as she drives to meet Miles. One evening, as the governess strolls around the grounds, she sees a strange man in a tower of the house and exchanges an intense stare with him. She says nothing to Mrs. Grose. Later, she catches the same man glaring into the dining-room window, and she rushes outside to investigate. The man is gone, and the governess looks into the window from outside. Her image in the window frightens Mrs. Grose, who has just walked into the room....

Words: 1066 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Star

...character? To what extent is her final protest justified? How do the other characters portray themselves by their attitudes toward the ritual? Mrs. Tess Hutchinson stands out right from the start: she arrives at the lottery late. She explains to Mr. Summers that she was doing her dishes and forgot what day it was. The town treats her lateness lightly, but several people comment on it, “in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, ‘Here comes your Missus, Hutchinson,’ and ‘ Bill, she made it after all.’” (Jackson 501). It is ironic that she is the one who wins the lottery, and is fated to be stoned. So Tess Hutchinson has already been noticed by people as one who is not entirely part of the group. Before the drawing she is friendly with the other women, pretending to be pleased to be present. The very moment that she sees is her family that draws the black dot, though, her egotism is evident. “You didn’t give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn’t fair!” (Jackson 504). She continues to scream about the unfairness of the ritual up until her stoning. Mrs. Hutchinson knew the lottery was wrong, but she never did anything about it. She pretends as much as she could to enjoy it, when she truly hated it all along. Maybe Jackson is suggesting that the more hypocritical one is, the more of a target they are. Mrs. Hutchinson was clearly the target of her fears. I think sometimes we have no problem remarking on people’s adultery until it is ourselves that...

Words: 548 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Search for Miss Ssg (Script)

...members and the spirited PTA Officers. J & M: ladies and gentlemen, good evening! Welcome to the search for MISS SSG 2011-2012 and the induction ceremony of Tugdan National High School. M: as we commence this momentous event, may I request everybody to rise for a soul warming doxology to be lead by selected students. J: please remain standing for the Philippine National Anthem to be conducted by Mrs. Rachel Fesalbon. M: the world is proud of having its great leaders. From ancient times up to present, good leaders foster the rest of the world to stand firm, to dream big and to take the highest flight man could ever take.. good leaders prepare people to survive the realities of life !ladies and gentlemen, let us hear from our loving Madam Melicia Galicia for her opening remarks. : and at this moment, may I call on Mr. Christian Solidum to introduce the board of judges for tonight’s affair. J: thank you sir! And now let us all welcome our candidates in their production number. J: now, we have the induction ceremony of the newly elected SSG Officers who will be presented by Mr. Randy A. Musa, SSG Adviser and to be inducted by Hon. Herman Galicia, ABC President.. may I request all the officers to come on stage. M: folks, let us be entertained as the selected students set on stage in their modern dance presentation. : thank you guys!! J: ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause to the candidates in their fashionista...

Words: 790 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Mr Ahmed

...May I beg that you will write at once to the mother of this unfortunate woman--to Mrs. Catherick--to ask for her testimony in support of the explanation which I have just offered to you?" I saw Miss Halcombe change colour, and look a little uneasy. Sir Percival's suggestion, politely as it was expressed, appeared to her, as it appeared to me, to point very delicately at the hesitation which her manner had betrayed a moment or two since. I hope, Sir Percival, you don't do me the injustice to suppose that I distrust you," she said quickly. "Certainly not, Miss Halcombe. I make my proposal purely as an act of attention to YOU. Will you excuse my obstinacy if I still venture to press it?" He walked to the writing-table as he spoke, drew a chair to it, and opened the paper case. "Let me beg you to write the note," he said, "as a favour to ME. It need not occupy you more than a few minutes. You have only to ask Mrs. Catherick two questions. First, if her daughter was placed in the Asylum with her knowledge and approval. Secondly, if the share I took in the matter was such as to merit the expression of her gratitude towards myself? Mr. Gilmore's mind is at ease on this unpleasant subject, and your mind is at ease—pray set my mind at ease also by writing the note." "You oblige me to grant your request, Sir Percival, when I would much rather refuse it." With those words Miss Halcombe rose from her place and went to the writing-table. Sir Percival thanked her, handed her a...

Words: 572 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Virgin

...He went to where Miss Mijares sat, a tall, big man, walking with an economy of movement, graceful and light, a man who knew his body and used it well. He sat in the low chair worn decrepit by countless other interviewers and laid all ten fingerprints carefully on the edge of her desk. She pushed a sheet towards him, rolling a pencil along with it. While he read the question and wrote down his answers, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was ten. "I shall be coming back quickly," she said, speaking distinctly in the dialect (you were never sure about these people on their first visit, if they could speak English, or even write at all, the poor were always proud and to use the dialect with them was an act of charity), "you will wait for me." As she walked to the cafeteria, Miss Mijares thought how she could easily have said, Please wait for me, or will you wait for me? But years of working for the placement section had dulled the edges of her instinct for courtesy. She spoke now peremtorily, with an abruptness she knew annoyed the people about her. When she talked with the jobless across her desk, asking them the damning questions that completed their humiliation, watching pale tongues run over dry lips, dirt crusted handkerchiefs flutter in trembling hands, she was filled with an impatience she could not understand. Sign here, she had said thousands of times, pushing the familiar form across, her finger held to a line, feeling the impatience grow at sight of the man...

Words: 2581 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Ssadas

...Contact Information for Teaching Staff at Thomas Knyvett College If you email a member of staff please allow 48 hours for a response. If it is an urgent matter please contact a member of the SLT or your son/daughter’s House Leader. Senior Leadership Team Mrs Miss Mr Mr Mr Miss Mrs Mrs Mrs Miss Miss Mr Mrs Mrs Ms Mr Mrs Mrs Mrs Miss Miss Miss Miss Mrs Mr Miss Mrs Miss Miss Mr Ms Ms Mrs Mrs Miss Mrs Mrs Miss Mr Mrs Mr Mrs Mrs Miss Miss Miss Ms Miss Miss Miss Mrs Janise Farrah Andrew Sheldon Chris Freya Claire Valerie Inma Seema Allison Adam Sian Kapila Theresa David Aimi Correen Jackie Emma Tanya Joann Alison Rachel Nick Abigail Wendy Lauren Isobel Andy Megan Mazie Carolyn Priscilla Preetpal Gurinder Sian Emily Steven Christine David Susan Vanessa Hayley Jean Azmari Linda Laura Nicole Hayley Tanya Marillat Thantrey Ward Snashall Bellamy Oliver Parsons O’Keeffe Alvarez Balrai Bates Belbin Bolsh Chalisgaonkar Chambers Chapman Curtis Danks Dillaway Edge Ellis Epps Fairclough Foley Fowler Frith Grantham Jankowski John Knott Lister Lloyd-Smith Manwaring Naicker Nashad Oberai Reeve Razzell Ratsakatika Reilly Retsinas Rowntree Russell Sculpher Semadeni Shikder Strachan Thomas Vernon Warren Zaheer JMa FTh AWa SSn CBe FOL CPa VOk IAL SBa ABa ABe SBo KCh TCh DCh ACs CDa JDi EEd TEl JEp AFa RFo NFo AFr WGr LJa IJo AKn MLi MSm CMa PNa PNd GOi SRv ERa DRa CRe SRe SRe VRu HSc JSe ASh LSt LTh NVe HWa TZa Head of School Deputy Head Assistant Head Assistant Head Cross Phase Assistant Head Partnership...

Words: 591 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Missed Appt

...Article 86 of the Uniform Code Of Military Justice. This Article covers Point and Place of Duty. That means from PT formation to COB that is where you will be. What a lot of Soldiers do not understand that includes appointments made by them or someone else. We have appointment times, SP times, formation times and many other start times that dictate we will be there. If a Convoy has an SP time of fifteen hundred hours and the Soldiers decide to show up late because they did not feel like getting ready on time people could die. If they rolled out on time, they may have avoided the ambush or avoided the Vbid that hit them in the bottleneck. It sounds extreme but time management plays a critical role in the Army. When you make an appointment that spot has been reserved for you. That means if you have been given the last slot someone else is going to have to wait for another one to open up. This could be one day or one month. And because you missed it someone else is still going to have to wait when they could have had that spot and been there. If you are going to miss the appointment or cannot make it due to mission they do allow us to cancel the appointment with in twenty four hours. The Army allows us to make appointments for whatever we need. Be it for a medical appointment, house goods, CIF, Smoking Sensation or whatever we need these recourses are available to us. But when Soldiers start missing appointments theses systems start to become inefficient. What a lot of Soldiers do...

Words: 354 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Virgin

...THE VIRGIN by Kerima Polotan Tuvera 1) He went to where Miss Mijares sat, a tall, big man, walking with an economy of movement, graceful and light, a man who knew his body and used it well. He sat in the low chair worn decrepit by countless other interviewers and laid all ten fingerprints carefully on the edge of her desk. She pushed a sheet towards him, rolling a pencil along with it. While he read the question and wrote down his answers, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was ten. "I shall be coming back quickly," she said, speaking distinctly in the dialect (you were never sure about these people on their first visit, if they could speak English, or even write at all, the poor were always proud and to use the dialect with them was an act of charity), "you will wait for me." As she walked to the cafeteria, Miss Mijares thought how she could easily have said, Please wait for me, or will you wait for me? But years of working for the placement section had dulled the edges of her instinct for courtesy. She spoke now peremtorily, with an abruptness she knew annoyed the people about her. When she talked with the jobless across her desk, asking them the damning questions that completed their humiliation, watching pale tongues run over dry lips, dirt crusted handkerchiefs flutter in trembling hands, she was filled with an impatience she could not understand. Sign here, she had said thousands of times, pushing the familiar form across, her finger held to a line, feeling...

Words: 2588 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

Angelina Jolie

...was a member of the “Kissy girls”, whose job was to hunt boys down and kiss them till they screamed. Another hobby was to collect snakes and lizards. She even had a favourite lizard, called Vladimir. Later she was a student at Beverly Hills High School far from being beautiful. She wore braces, glasses and was painfully skinny. So the students teased her but they didn’t know that she had an impressive collection of knives. Her movie career At the age of seven she appeared in her first movie but her breakthrough came with Girl, Interrupted. It followed her big hit: her role in Tomb Raider, where she had to master a British accent. She had to become familiar with kick-boxing, street-fighting, yoga and ballet. In 2005 she released Mr. and Mrs. Smith, where she and Brad Pitt starred as a bored couple. Now she is married with Brad Pitt and although she is committed to motherhood she does charitable work...

Words: 269 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Angelina Jolie

...When most people see the name Angelina Jolie they only think of the talented actress, the significant other of Brad Pitt or the celebrity with the very diverse children but she is so much more than that. Since 2001 Jolie has been working alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to bring awareness to the unfortunate situations of refugees from around the world. She has traveled to and volunteered in many third world countries such as; Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Iraq and North Caucasus. In addition to this, she along with Brad Pitt founded the Jolie-Pitt foundation which is dedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife. This foundation also donates to many other humanitarian groups, one being Doctors without Borders. In 2009 Angelina Jolie gave the opening speech for a World Refugee Day event being held at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington D.C. Throughout this speech Jolie concentrates not on the horrible conditions that refugees endure but on the spirit that they have from being in these situations. When speaking to millions of Americans she doesn’t rely on facts or statistics but instead she uses anecdotal evidence, visualization and pathos to get her point across. The purpose of this speech is not to persuade but to inform the people of America about the amazing people she has met while traveling to third world countries. Furthermore, she is trying to show people that...

Words: 268 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Pearls Paper

...When most people see the name Angelina Jolie they only think of the talented actress, the significant other of Brad Pitt or the celebrity with the very diverse children but she is so much more than that. Since 2001 Jolie has been working alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to bring awareness to the unfortunate situations of refugees from around the world. She has traveled to and volunteered in many third world countries such as; Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Iraq and North Caucasus. In addition to this, she along with Brad Pitt founded the Jolie-Pitt foundation which is dedicated to eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife. This foundation also donates to many other humanitarian groups, one being Doctors without Borders. In 2009 Angelina Jolie gave the opening speech for a World Refugee Day event being held at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington D.C. Throughout this speech Jolie concentrates not on the horrible conditions that refugees endure but on the spirit that they have from being in these situations. When speaking to millions of Americans she doesn’t rely on facts or statistics but instead she uses anecdotal evidence, visualization and pathos to get her point across. The purpose of this speech is not to persuade but to inform the people of America about the amazing people she has met while traveling to third world countries. Furthermore, she is trying to show people that...

Words: 317 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Mrs.Dalloway

...Mrs. Dalloway (1998) presents a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class English woman. Clarissa Dalloway is the wife of Richard Dalloway, a Conservative Member of Parliament. The story takes place in London on a day in June 1923, a day when Clarissa is giving a dinner party. She walks to the florist shop to buy flowers for the party. Admittedly, it's no easy task to make a silly woman's foolish choices an engrossing cinematic experience. For that reason alone the people who tried to make a film of Virginia Woolf's novel, "Mrs. Dalloway" get an "E" for effort. It has a sumptuous look, excellent supporting performances, and I wish I could have liked it more. The title character, Clarissa Dalloway, is played by Vanessa Redgrave while she plans a party at her impressive home. As she does, she begins to recall the choice she made years ago when pursued by two suitors who could not have been more different. Rather than reckless passion, her choice, born of cowardice, was for the security of a quiet life full of privilege. Peter Walsh, an old and close friend of Clarissa’s, has returned to England after five years in India, and comes to visit her. Peter Walsh once loved Clarissa, but she had refused to marry him. Clarissa introduces Peter to her daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth is 17 years old, and has an older friend and tutor named Doris Kilman. Elizabeth goes to lunch with Miss Kilman. Miss Kilman is poor and physically unattractive, and resents the upper-class Mrs...

Words: 731 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

T.S Eliot and Woolf- Urban Anxieties

...dramatise London so perpetually’ Woolf wondered in the final months of her life. This essay will seek to examine Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and Eliot’s The Waste Land to observe their perpetual fascination with expressing metropolis as a vision of modernity. It will attempt to scrutinize the overwhelming nature of urban life, urban life’s effect on humanity, metropolis being the forefront of society, and also the depiction of a single urban consciousness. Through examining these depictions of urban life, this essay aims to observe the effects rapid urbanisation had on the modern movement and its respective authors. Woolf presents Mrs Dalloway’s consciousness as a vessel to voice the overwhelming nature of urban life and the problem of anxiety experienced in modern metropolis. Immediately in the first paragraph Clarissa’s anxieties are voiced as she embarks to the city to prepare for her party. Clarissa’s consciousness jumps to her memory of a ‘girl of eighteen’ and the solemn and ‘feeling that something awful was about to happen’. The contrast to her feeling of excitement to a feeling of anxiety is stark. The protagonist begins by exclaiming ‘how fresh how calm’ and then to experiencing feeling threatened as her attention reverts from the natural to the ‘uproar of the carriages, motor cars, omnibuses, vans… she loved; life; London’. Woolf plunges the reader into Mrs Dalloway’s consciousness, where the protagonist experiences both awe and anxiety at the spectacle of the metropolis. The...

Words: 2946 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

Final Critical Essay Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway

...Final Critical Essay | Mrs. Dalloway: Perceptions of One’s Life | Brittney Davey | In Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf involves two main characters whose personalities and life styles are on complete opposite’s sides of the spectrum, which do not know one another but are linked through the concept of different ways each person views the world they live in. Clarissa Dalloway is a high-class, wealthy woman who cares about what others think of her so she indulges herself in parties to be commonly liked, yet struggles with her internal thoughts and memories to the outside world. Septimus Warren Smith is a man who survived the war with severe post-traumatic stress from witnessing many tragic events including watching his friend Evans die from an invasion. Through each of these individuals experiences, and what they both have been through – tragic or sane – they have perceived the world differently, therefore, they both have one view of the world. These two characters were most important in the sense of perception of two different worlds because not every life is the same, many people grow up in a terrifying neighbourhood, whereas others grow up in a wealthy secure home, others witness death and others never break a bone in their body. It depends on how and where you were raised, what background you came from, what hobbies interests you, which group of friends you fall into, every step can lead to a different life, but it is the independent persons choice on which...

Words: 1356 - Pages: 6