...A.2 Case Waste Management Synopsis In February 1998 Waste Management announced that it was restating its financial statements for 1993 through 1996. In its restatement, Waste Management said that it had materially overstated its reported pretax earnings by $1.43 billion. After the announcement, the company’s stock dropped by more than 33 percent, and shareholders lost over $6 billion. The SEC brought charges against the company’s founder, Dean Buntrock, and five other former top officers. The charges alleged that management had made repeated changes to depreciation-related estimates to reduce expenses and had employed several improper accounting practices related to capitalization policies, also designed to reduce expenses.1 In its final judgment, the SEC permanently barred Buntrock and three other executives from acting as officers or directors of public companies and required payment from them of $30.8 million in penalties.2 History In 1956 Dean Buntrock took over Ace Scavenger, a garbage collector owned by his father-in-law, who had recently died. After merging Ace with a number of other waste companies, Buntrock founded Waste Management in 1968.3 Under Buntrock’s reign as its CEO, the company went public in 1971 and then expanded during the 1970s and 1980s through several acquisitions of local waste hauling companies and landfill operators. At one point the company was performing close to 200 acquisitions a year.4 From 1971 to 1991 the company enjoyed 36 percent...
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...The SEC, auditors, banks, and credit rating agencies can be seen as positive reinforcements for companies to use and practice legal forms of accounting. Even though this statement is true, it may not always be true. Sometimes their efforts are not enough or they do not even put the effort in. This paper will evaluate how these four systems of controls had failed to prevent different companies from using unethical forms of accounting practices to their advantage. In order to deal with issues regarding derivatives risks, the SEC made some changes involving their disclosure. The SEC found that companies were accounting for derivatives in different ways and wanted to make a more clear and universal way to disclose derivatives information. After this change was set, companies started telling investors more about their derivatives but not enough for the investors to know how much of the company’s profits were from fickle business. The SEC stated that companies needed to provide “material” information and the companies seen “material” as a word to be played with and worked around. The SEC failed to make a clear rule by having many of their terms used loosely. Due to lack of a concrete definition of what SEC wanted, companies were not encouraged to make clear disclosures and moved their operations offshore to avoid the SEC. Waste Management’s scheme of manipulating earnings was aided by auditors at Arthur Anderson. During an evaluation of Waste Management’s statements...
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...Waste Management Scandal BUS 320 Finance 1/8/16 Waste Management Waste Management Incorporated is considered the nation's largest waste collector (Feder). Waste Management is a well known brand and dominates regions of the United States and Canada where they provide services. Anyone who sees their trucks tends to think, "Garbage". During the early 1990's, instead of just picking up the garbage, Waste Management provided garbage to their investors in the form of an accounting scandal. This scandal would eventually cost investors around 6 billion dollars (Bloomberg News). This event was described by the associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, Thomas C. Newkirk, as "possibly one of the most egregious accounting frauds we have ever seen" (SEC). What Thomas Newkirk was describing was a long-standing policy by those at the top of the executive rung at Waste Management to provide their auditors, auditing committee, and the public false and misleading numbers in a variety of ways. The first step in this scandal involved high level executives setting earnings targets without regard to current or recent results. Those executives would then manipulate the numbers in order to match the previously set targets. By doing this, they were attempting to show tremendous growth. With tremendous growth, they could enrich themselves personally as they kept their jobs regardless of the actual results. Also, they reaped the benefits of higher bonuses and increased income as they...
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...Waste Management, Inc. is the nation's largest waste collector (Feder). In other words, they collect and recycle garbage. They are a known brand and dominate the regions of the country and Canada where they provide services. Grownups and kids alike see their trucks and think, "Garbage". Which could sound awful, but garbage is lucrative. In the early 1990's, Waste Management, instead of just picking up the garbage, provided garbage to their investors in the form of an accounting scandal which cost investors approximately $6 billion (Bloomberg News) and was described by Thomas C. Newkirk, associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement as "one of the most egregious accounting frauds we have seen" (SEC). What Mr. Newkirk is describing is a long-standing policy by those at the top of the executive rung at Waste Management to provide their auditors, auditing committee, and the public false and misleading numbers in a variety of ways. First, these highest level executives would set earnings targets without regard to current or recent past results. They would then manipulate the numbers to match the previously set targets. Why? They wished to show tremendous growth in their business which would enrich them personally as they kept their jobs regardless of actual results. They also reaped the benefit of higher bonuses and increased income as they sold off their personal shares of the company at market prices which did not reflect the actual company results. It would be akin...
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...shopping bags made from renewable materials conserve resources by replacing paper and plastic bags. Reusable bags are convenient and come in a variety of sizes, styles and materials. When not in use, some reusable bags can be rolled or folded small enough to fit easily into a pocket. Recycle your plastic bags. If you do end up using plastic bags now and then, be sure to recycle them. Many grocery stores now collect plastic bags for recycling. If yours doesn't, check with your community recycling program to learn how to recycle plastic bags in your area. ---______________________________________________________________________________________________- REPUBLIC ACT 9003 January 26, 2001 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, CREATING THE NECESSARY INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND INCENTIVES, DECLARING CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED AND PROVIDING PENALTIES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of...
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...Case analysis 3 Chao Yao Major case 1 Adelphia Communications Corporation 1. What are the facts? In September 2005, the SEC charged Dearlove, a certified public accountant and formerly a partner with the accounting firm Deloitte& Touche LLP, with the improper conduct resulting in a violation of applicable professional standards. On July 24, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia supported the finding of the SEC that Dearlove engaged improper professional conduct. SEC found that Adelphia’s financial statements were not in accordance with the general accepted accounting principles and Dearlove violated general accepted auditing standards. The Adelphia communications Corporation was one of the largest cable television companies in the United States. Prior to 2000, the SEC found large amount Co-borrowed debt inside the company and its affiliated entities. After the big Enron scandal, SEC required public company to disclose the related-party transactions. As Adelphia disclosed its obligations as co-debtor with the Rigas entities, the stoke price of company declined sharply and finally was delisted from the NASDAQ. 2. What are the ethical issues? Dearlove had engaged in unreasonable conduct, such as approval of the Adelphia’s method of accounting for related-party transactions. His behaviors resulted in a violation of applicable professional standards. Deloitte, who engaged in auditing Adelphia, did not issued a fair auditor’s report. Adelphia...
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...Accounting : Waste Management Inc. Accounting Fraud The Business Dictionary defines "ethics" as the basic concepts and fundamental principles of decent human conduct. Most definitions agree with this one ; however, these principles are subject to personal and societal points of view that might differ depending on the context and individuals. Due to this subjectivity, codes of conduct have been created to ensure the application of discipline and morality not only personally but also profesionally. In the world of business, the decency of businessmen is constantly questioned as a result of worldwide scandals that have highlighted the lack of ethical standards and the breach of codes of conducts in numerous corporations. Specifically, accountants are often accused of poor financial management and fraud. Among the different cases of accounting malpractice, the Waste Management Inc. hoax is one of the most famous ones and it is usually used as an example to illustrate the decay of values in some of the biggest, most powerful entreprises. In 1968, Waste Management Inc. was founded by entrepreneurs Wayne Huizenga, Dean Buntrock and Larry Beck to provide waste and environmental services such as recycling, hazardous material collection, hauling, treatment and disposal of garbage. The company owns 26,000 collection and transfer vehicles and along with its competitor Republic Services, Inc. it handles more than half of the trash collection in the United States. When Waste Management, Inc....
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...Waste Management Scandal Janice Whitted Strayer University Professor Steven Brydges October 29, 2012 According to your dictionary (2012), ethics in is the moral standards of determining the behavior of others and assume that “do unto other as you will have them do unto you”. In business, you have to consider the consumers, clients, and shareholders. Because these people has such a significant factor in your business dilemma arises among the different interest it can become extremely tricky. Business ethics become multi-faceted and complex. Many factors affect business ethics, honesty, carefulness, objectivity, integrity, legality, respect of colleagues and others. You have social responsibility, human subject protection, competence, responsible mentoring and publication, as well as non-discrimination, openness, confidentially and respect for intellectual property. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) governs the way stockbrokers and investment bankers do business. Accounts ethics differ from other business ethics, especially public held corporation accountants, they depend upon complete transparency and honesty. Shareholders can be harmed when they act unethical. In this day and time, ethical thought s has gone out the window and greed has become the focus. During the GMC bail out, executives used the monies to meet their needs and not concern about the employees, stakeholders, or the economy. The executives flew to Washington in private jets to ask taxpayers...
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...irregularities at Enronaa in order not to lose the lucrative stream of consulting and other work it provided. Androids also had prior entanglements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Androids agreed to pay the SEC a civil penalty of USD 7 million to settle charges related to the firm’s work as auditors of Solid Waste. This issue is the US SEC found Androids guilty of issuing materially false and misleading audit reports on Solid Waste financial statements for the period 1993 through 1996. Then, Androids also issued an audit report on Solid Waste’s financial statements in which it stated that the company’s financial statements were presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and that Androids had conducted its audit of those financial statement in accordance with generally accepted auditing standard (GAAS). So, SEC found that Androids’ representations were materially false and misleading. While, Solid Waste’s financial statements were not presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with GAAP. Androids had allowed the management of Solid Waste to use improper accounting to inflate its operating income and other measures of success. It was the largest restatement of results in the history of the SEC. Besides that, SEC found Androids failed to ensure that all known misstatements were...
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...1.1 Latar Belakang 2 1.2 Rumusan Masalah 3 1.3 Tujuan Penulisan 3 BAB 2 PEMBAHASAN 3 2.1 Sejarah Singkat Waste Management Inc. 3 2.2 Kronologis Kasus 4 2.3 Penyebab Terjadinya Skandal Waste Mangement Inc. 5 2.4 Dampak dan Keberlanjutan Skandal Waste Management Inc. 6 2.5 Solusi 7 2.6 Masalah Etika 8 2.7 Teori Etika 8 BAB 3 PENUTUP 10 3.1 Kesimpulan 10 Daftar Pustaka 11 BAB 1 PENDAHULUAN 1.1 Latar Belakang Bisnis dapat menjadi sebuah profesi etis apabila ditunjang dengan menerapkan prinsip-prinsip etis untuk berbisnis. Dalam prinsip ini terdapat tata cara ideal dalam pengaturan dan pengelolaan bisnis yang memperhatikan norma dan moralitas ini dapat menunjang maksud dan tujuan kegiatan bisnis. Dalam prinsip akuntansi, etika akuntan harus lebih dijaga daripada kepentingan perusahaan. Tanpa etika, profesi akuntansi tidak akan ada karena fungsi akuntansi adalah penyedia informasi untuk proses pembuatan keputusan bisnis oleh para pelaku bisnis, dengan berdasarkan kepentingan banyak pihak yang terlibat dengan perusahaan. Dan bukan didasarkan pada beberapa pihak tertentu saja. Karena itu, bagi akuntan, prinsip akuntansi adalah aturan tertinggi yang harus diikuti. Kode etik dalam akuntansi pun menjadi barang wajib yang harus mengikat profesi akuntan. Salah satu contoh skandal yang berasal dari Amerika Serikat adalah Waste Management Inc. Perusahaan yang bergerak dalam industri pembuangan limbah dan perusahaan jasa lingkungan. Perusahaan tersebut...
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...Introduction In race to be a leader, most companies are realizing that traditional management, manufacturing processes, and other orthodox approaches, are not enough. More effective methods are needed: • Lean Manufacturing • Six Sigma Lean “Lean is a way to specify value, line up value-creating actions in the best sequence, conduct those activities without interruption whenever someone requests them, and perform them more and more effectively. In short, lean thinking is lean because it provides a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort, less human equipment, less time, and less space – while coming closer and closer to providing customers with exactly what they want.”- Womack and Jones (1996). “Becoming ‘lean’ is a process of eliminating waste with the goal of creating value.” – Womack & Jones There are FIVE overriding principles to Lean. Identify Customers and Specify Value - The starting point is to recognise that only a small fraction of the total time and effort in any organisation actually adds value for the end customer. By clearly defining Value for a specific product or service from the end customer’s perspective, all the non value activities - or waste - can be targeted for removal. Identify and Map the Value Stream – The Value Stream is the entire set of activities across all parts of the organisation involved in jointly delivering the product or service. This represents the end-to-end process that delivers the value to the...
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...they fairly representing the state of the business. The issues arise when there are evidences suggesting that Androids assisted Enronaa to sort of increase reported returns of off-balance sheet activities by units called raptors. In addition, the second issue that arises in Enronaa is many off-book partnerships were not properly accounted for. From this issue, David stated that millions in debts and losses had to be reflected in Enronaa’s books. David also confessed to Ken Bailey, the junior partner that Androids used accounting practices that allow Enronaa to hide their debts, but all of those are still within the context of fair value accounting. Solid Waste is also one of the organizations that involved in this case, where Solid Waste is one of the Androids’ clients starting from 1971, even before Solid Waste becomes a public company. Solid...
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...Conference Room 37C1. His heart beat faster as he thought about the net that was closing in on Androids. As his eyes wandered around the room, on one of the conference room walls was an imposing picture of Arthur Androids. David was particularly proud of the long and distinguished history of the firm. His mind wandered as if to witness how in 1913, Arthur and Clarence, both from the audit firm of Price, bought out a small audit firm in Illinois to form Arthur, Clarence & Co., which became Androids & Co. in 1918. Androids, who headed the firm until his death in 1945, was a zealous supporter of high standards in the accounting industry. A stickler for honesty, he argued that accountants’ responsibility was to investors, not their clients’ management. During the early years, it was reputed that Androids was approached by an executive from a local rail utility to sign off on accounts containing flawed accounting, or else face the loss of a major client. Androids refused in no uncertain terms, replying that he would not sign the accounts “for all the money in America”. Leonardo Sparky, who succeeded Androids at the...
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...Public distrust of financial institutions has a huge impact on the economy because it stops people from buying, trading and selling securities. “The solution, however, would involve the government in releasing negative information about the firms, a practice that might be politically difficult. A second possibility is for the government to regulate securities markets in a way that encourages firms to reveal honest information about themselves so that investors can determine how good or bad the firms are” (Mishkin, F. S., & Eakins, S. G. (2009). A novel idea one might say but an idea that our economy is built on and depends on to thrive. This is where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comes into play. “In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the government agency that requires firms selling their securities to have independent audits, in which accounting firms certify that the firm is adhering to standard accounting principles and disclosing accurate information about sales, assets, and earnings” (Mishkin, F. S., & Eakins, S. G. (2009). Sounds like a...
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...explanation and conference calls r called LJM2, Tom v similar troubles, ant people listening in." ally knew for certai Enronaa, he was the rd ffi i* (;/l walls was an imposing picture of Arthur Androids. David was particularly proud of the long and distinguished history of the firm. His mind wandered as if to witness how in 1913, Arthur and Clarence, both from the audit firm of Price, bought out a small audit firm in Illinois to form Arthur, Clarence & Co which becameAndroids & Co. in 1918. Androids, who headed the firm until his death in 1945, was a zealous supporter of high standards in the accounting industry. A stickler for honesty, he argued that accountants' responsibility was to investors, not their clients' management. During the early years, it was reputed that Androids was...
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