...Government Regulation Research Paper 1 Crystal Carrothers Introduction Government regulation is around us everywhere. The government needs to make sure that the public’s interests are maintained and preserved. Being an accounting student, I have heard and read about regulation in the accounting industry numerous times. There have been many major accounting scandals in history that have lead to many different kinds of government regulation. The government regulations in accounting are mostly enacted to protect investors. From 2000 to 2002 there was an abundant number of large corporate accounting frauds, which led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Previous regulations were efficient to a certain extent, but scandals still happened and more regulation seemed to always be needed. Even though the new SOX regulation seems powerful and efficient, I believe that there will always be a need for additional regulation in order to prevent future scandals. Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 Summary of Regulation The stock market crash of 1929 resulted in the Securities Act of 1933. This act required that before a company an offer or sell securities in a public offering, they must register the securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The registration statement is used to notify the SEC that a sale of securities is pending and that the information needs to be disclosed to prospective buyers. This statement includes information about the issuer and its business...
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...Summary This case focuses on Japan’s accounting profession and independent audit function. As this case documents, the accounting profession and independent audit function within the United States and Japan are very similar in many respects but very dissimilar in others. Similar to the United States, Japan’s accounting profession has historically been dominated by a small number of large accounting firms. In fact, each of Japan’s four largest accounting firms is affiliated with one of the Big Four accounting firms that are principally domiciled in the United States. The overall role and nature of the independent audit function in the two major industrialized countries are also very similar. One of the major differences between the accounting profession in Japan and the United States is the relatively small number of Japanese CPAs. On a per capita basis, the United States has more than ten times as many CPAs as Japan. Likewise, there is a large disparity in audit fees between the two countries. The annual audit fee for a U.S. company is typically ten times the size of the audit fee for a comparable Japanese company. Finally, the nature and structure of the regulatory function for the accounting profession and financial reporting system have historically been very different between the two countries. Similar to the United States, Japanese auditors have faced mounting criticism in recent years as a result of a series of high profile accounting and auditing failures. Much of this criticism...
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...Andersen, and the American public’s faith with it. Enron and its young McKinsey consultant created the energy derivative and used it to form the new natural gas division that dominated the market. However, the use of mark-to-market accounting and the creation of Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) led to overstated profits and inaccurate balance sheets. By the fall of 2001 nobody could find out how Enron was making its money. A disclosure on the October financial statements for a $1.2 billon dollar reversal caught the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) attention. They launched an investigation and in less than two months Enron filed for bankruptcy protection. A large part of the scandal also focused around Arthur Andersen, at the time of the of the Big Five accounting firms, because of its qualified auditing opinions of Enron. It ultimately ceased to exist because of its involvement with the Enron fraud. The Enron scandal showed the public that changes in accounting and auditing standards and practices were needed, and it was a major catalyst in the creation of Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. It is important to note how quickly Enron’s rise was cut short by fraudulent behaviors that ultimately caused its demise and the lessons learned from their scandal. The Rise of Enron Enron took on massive amounts of debt when it was created and it needed a new, innovative business plan...
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...biggest independent oil and gas exploration companies. In North America, Enron was the largest wholesale marketer of natural gas and electricity. Enron pioneered innovative trading products, such as gas futures and weather futures, significantly modernizing the utilities industry. After a surge of growth in the early 1990s, the company ran into difficulties. The magnitude of Enron's losses was hidden from stockholders. The company folded after a failed merger deal with Dynegy Inc. in 2001 brought to light massive financial finagling. and its failure was the biggest bankruptcy in American history. Read more: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/57/Enron-Corporation.html#ixzz2M4woQw7u Enron Scandal And Ethics The 2001 Enron scandal gave business ethics a new lease on life. Enron, an energy firm in Texas, was considered an economic success story. Its stock had...
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...Halliburton A question of accounting policy and auditing responsibility I. Halliburton’s background After being founded in 1919, Halliburton has asserted its dominance over the oilfield services industry. It is one of the world’s largest providers of such products and services, and the company employs over 75,000 people. Its presence in the international market is supported by its locations in 80 countries and diverse workforce from 140 nationalities. Halliburton has one of the world’s largest selections of oilfield products and services due to its massive corporate size and healthy portfolio of subsidiary holding, construction, oilfield, and many other companies (Halliburton). Accountants at Halliburton have dealt with a plethora of judgment calls regarding how exactly to record transactional events. Issues like job order costing, prepaid assets, subcontracting, and future economic benefits from land only begin the list. Difficulties in accounting are inherent in massive conglomerate corporations with unprecedented situations. What executives may have overlooked is the importance of stringent and professional accounting. Not only are Halliburton’s financial statements relied upon by investors, but also the SEC and a number of other interested parties. II. Scandal From 1946 to 2002, the auditing firm Arthur Andersen, LLP provided a variety of attestation and consultation services to Halliburton. A major duty of Arthur Andersen was to audit published financial...
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...Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbox or SOX), also known as 'The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act' in the US Senate, was enacted on July 30, 2002. This law was co-authored/sponsored by US Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland) and US Congressman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio). The act contains 11 sections with various requirements ranging from additional corporate board responsibilities to criminal penalties, and empowers the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rulings that comply with the said act/law. The objective of this law was two-fold: 1) to restore the public confidence in public accounting, auditing and public securities trading 2) to assure ethical business practices by demanding executive awareness and accountability. But why and how did this law come to fruition? What events prompted these U.S. lawmakers to pass this bill in the first place? This bill was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting debacles (or accounting scandals). Some of those corporate accounting scandals involve companies such as Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of these affected companies collapsed and shook public confidence in the US securities markets. To better understand SOX, it is best to understand the first company that found itself in that accounting predicament: The Enron Corporation. II. Enron: The Very First Reason for...
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...Abstract Within the accounting profession there are many complex ethical issues that must be dealt with quite often. It is important that the people working within the industry provide high quality financial statements and always pay close attention to ethical concerns that may arise. Since ethics is such a major concern in the accounting industry, a rules based system is in place for enforcing ethical concerns. There are many regulating bodies that exist that enforce many highly detailed regulations that people within the industry must follow at all times. Throughout history there have been several major accounting scandals that have been followed by new regulation to ensure that these problems do not come up again. CLERP 9 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are just a couple of acts that have caused significant changes to the accounting world in recent times. This paper will look at some of the different issues that accountants face as well as some of the regulations that seek to end unethical behavior. Ethical Standards in Accounting Introduction The accounting industry is an always changing and constantly growing industry. Accounting plays a vital role in society and business and up until recently accounting was considered to have some of the highest standards for ethical and moral conduct in business. In recent years there have been many high profile business failures caused by the unethical behavior or accountants and accounting firms. Since some major companies, like Enron...
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...TYCO: THE PRECURSOR, THE SCANDAL, THE REBIRTH By Anya Davies, Student MGMT/103 Facilitator: Dr. Charles A. von Urff Week 2 assignment Individual Written Paper Due September 31, 2014 Submitted September 31, 2014 Introduction Every year or so we hear about big corporate accounting scandals, most of which originate in the United States. “Corporate malfeasance has earned a place among the defining themes of the last decade-and-a-half, helping give birth to the present global recession and the Occupy Wall Street Movement”. Based on the amount of money stolen and on how unethical and illegal its ground was, Tyco Scandal, happened in 2002, is definitely the most notorious (The 10 Worst Corporate Accounting Scandals). The Precursor Arthur J. Rosenberg founded Tyco Incorporated in 1960, in Waltham, Massachusetts. In 1982 Tyco was divided into three business segments: fire protection, electronics and packaging. In the 1990s Tyco was reorganized and comprised “electrical and electronic components, health-care and specialty products, fire and security services, and flow control. By 2000, Tyco Inc. had acquired more than three major companies such as ADT, the CIT Group, and Raychem” (Unethical Issues). Leo Dennis Kozlowski became the CEO in 1992, after being the company’s CFO. He “became the personification of the acquisition mania of the 1990s, and assumed the qualities necessary for the task—brutishness, aggressiveness, and a commitment to the accumulation of...
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...Accounting Scandals: Responsible Stewardship and Integrity AOL Time Warner 1. Summary of the events that led to the accounting scandal. AOL was the major face in the Internet scene for four years, between1994 to 1999, by using aggressive advertising contracts instead of charging subscription fees to their users. When internet advertising became more and more popular, AOL’s stock rose by an extremely large amount. Due to this tremendous response from investors, enhancing revenues in order to keep the stock prices favorable for AOL TW’s stockholders became the core objective of the AOL management and its employees (Cantoria). In 2000, a new company called AOL Time Warner was created when AOL purchased Time Warner for $164 billion. The deal announced on January 10, 2000 and officially filed on February 11, 2000, this merger in which each original company had a creative opportunity to merge into a newly created entity. Immediately before and after AOL’s merger with Time Warner, top executives at the internet company used tricks, contrivances and false transactions to inflate the value of AOL stock while liquidating their shares in a selling frenzy to enrich themselves to the tune of $936 million. 2. The financial accounting that was performed in the scandal. In 2001 and 2002, the company inflated its online advertising revenue by $400 million in connection with transactions with Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann paid $400 million as consideration for amendments to the multi-billion...
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...Unit 3 Research Paper # 1 Business Law Outline Thesis--Government Regulation is needed in the U.S. to keep scandals from ruining our businesses livelihood and the financial futures of all Americans. Introduction Many acts have been created because of controversy and scandals that have and continue to happen in the U.S. These acts were introduced to prevent individuals and businesses from losing everything and to help the government to keep individuals and businesses safe from scams. Without these regulations there would be no standards and companies and corporations could do as they please. They also help to monitor the accounting of companies, keep the scandals at a minimum, and watch for trends so we don’t have another stock market crash. Too many people have lost everything when these types of disasters strike. Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted as a result of the stock market crash of 1929. It was the first major piece of federal legislation to apply to the sale of securities. The legislation was enacted as the need for more information within and about the securities markets was acknowledged. The 1933 Act was based on the idea that companies offering securities should provide potential investors with sufficient information about both the issuer and the securities to make an informed investment decision. The Securities Act of 1934 established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The 1934 Act also gives...
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...1) INTRODUCTION (FASB 2012) & (Cooper, D. J., Et. Al., 2005 I) The Accountancy Profession (a) Accountants benefits the economy and society by contributing to the efficient allocation and management of resources. (b) Contribute to the growth of individual companies. (c) Promote financial market performance, through the reporting of, and providing assurance on, financial information. i) Needs For Regulation (d) Response to the need for certain standards to be met by the members of that profession. (i) Regulation seeks to ensure the right quality and, where appropriate, consistency in the quality of accountancy services. ii) Benefit Of Regulation (e) Knowledge imbalance between the client, who is acquiring accountancy services, and the provider. (f) Impact On Third Parties. iii) Characteristics Of Good Regulation (g) Areas that regulation of the accountancy profession typically cover (h) The value of ethical behavior. iv) A Shared Approach To Regulation (i) Roles government . (j) Role of professional accountancy organizations. v) Current Regulatory Environment (k) Global adoption and implementations of international high-quality technical and professional standards. (l) External regulation of the market for audits...
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...AIG / Gen Re 2004 ACCOUNTING SCANDAL Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. The Companies and Participants 4 III. The Setting 5 IV. Aftermath 9 V. Conclusion 10 I. Introduction AIG’s accounting scandal is one of the biggest accounting scandals in the first decade of 21st century. In 2004, SEC discovered that AIG rewrote its financial reports for years from 2000 to 2004, with support from Gen Re, one of the biggest reinsurers in the world. This scandal led to reduction of AIG’s net income in 2004 of $1.32B, and total settlement of $1.6B from government. AIG was also accused of violating 16 counts of the criminal code. II. The Companies and Participants AIG is the world’s largest insurance and financial services company. AIG, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in a broad range of insurance and insurance-related activities worldwide. In 2007, AIG has 93,000 employees, business in 130 countries, $6.2 billion net income, and $59.8 billion premium written. Gen Re Corporation, established in 1921, is a Connecticut corporation with its principal corporate offices located in Stamford, Connecticut. Gen Re became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on December 21, 1998. It is one of the largest reinsurers in the world. In 2007, Gen Re has $6.0 billion premium written. Hank Greenburg, CEO of AIG, was born in 1925. He admitted to NY Bar in 1953, and joined AIG 1962. In 1968, he was named CEO. He has led AIG for 38 years, until he stepped down...
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...The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Pub. L. No. 107-204, 116 Stat. 745, also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called SOX or Sarbox; July 30, 2002) is a United States federal law passed in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals involving prominent companies in the United States. This examination of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002, will address the following: 1.Analyze the new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms that the SOX required. 2.Examine why the new enhanced standards are necessary 3. Evaluate the benefits and cost of the SOX Through research of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the above questions will be addressed. Analyze the new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms that the SOX required. Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted following a number of major corporate and accounting scandals involving prominent U.S. companies. Public trust in accounting and reporting practices was in a spiraling decline, SOX was designed to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made in accordance with the securities laws. SOX standards must be followed or strict penalties for noncompliance can result. According...
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...Assignment University of Phoenix Organizational Leadership LDR 531 Group Number: SC09MBA10 G. Edward McCullough, M.A. March 25, 2010 Examining a Business Failure: WorldCom Why do businesses fail? Most business corporations experience company failure because of their lack of organizational leadership and unethical practices, which can consist of fraud, conspiracy, falsifying documents, and embezzlement. An example of a business failure is most recognized by the WorldCom (2002) bankruptcy scandal. Many organizational behavior (OB) theories as it relates to leadership, management, and organizational structure can give in site to explain the company’s failure. Most blame for the WorldCom scandal was placed in its founder and CEO Bernard Ebbers due to his unruly managerial functions (planning, organizing, leading and controlling) that he practiced during his time at WorldCom. WorldCom was known as a telecommunication giant, established from nothing in 1983 to become the biggest accounting scandal in United States (U.S.) history in 2002. According to Jones Jonesington (2007) says, “In 1998, the telecommunications industry began to slow down and WorldCom’s stock was declining which gave CEO Bernard Ebbers increased pressure from banks to cover margin calls on his WorldCom stock that was used to finance his other businesses endeavors (timber, yachting etc.).”(Jonesington, J., 2007) WorldCom took another big hit in 2000 when it was forced to abandon its merger with Sprint, says Jonesington...
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...| Double-dealing | A review of fraudsters and the impact | | Nick Andreolas | 11/30/2015 | ACCT604 Ruizhen Hardin This paper summarizes accounting fraud in the United States. I explain why each aspect of communication skills and report writing is vital to an accountant’s professional career. | Table of Contents I. Executive Summary 1 II. Introduction 1 III. Review of Literature 1 IV. Analysis 1 V. Recommendations 1 VI. Summary and Conclusions 1 VII. Appendix x 1 VIII. References 1 I. Executive Summary Accounting fraud is the deliberate manipulation of accounting records in order to make an organization's financial performance or condition seem better than it actually is. There are many examples of accounting fraud. * Merging short and long term debt into one amount for improving the perceived liquidity of the organization or a company. * Failing to disclose the risky investments or creative accounting practices. * Over-recording the sales revenue. * Under-recording expenses i.e. depreciation of expenses. From Enron, WorldCom and HealthSouth, it appears that accounting fraud is a major problem that is increasing in frequency and severity. research evidence has shown that a growing number of frauds have undermined the integrity of financial reports, contributed to substantial economic loses, and destroyed investors' confidence regarding the reliability of financial statements. The increasing rate of white-collar crimes demands...
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