...Summary: The Case of Phar-Mor Inc. The Phar-Mor Inc. a deep discount drug store chain, came into existence in 1982 as an affiliate of family-owned grocery chain Giant Eagle, which also owned a distribution company, Tamco Distributors Co. and the deep discount concept consisted of using “power buying” or purchasing the largest possible amount of product at best term, then selling at discounts of up to 25% - 40% off retail prices. Phar-Mor Inc. had fictitious inventory, fund diversions and a fraud cover-up by management which costed its investors 500 million dollars. The first indication of financial problem came to light in 1988, when investigation of lower-than-expected profit margins revealed that Phar-Mor was being billed for inventory it had not received from its sister company, Tamco, a primary supplier. The receiving records had not been maintained by Phar-Mor for the purchases made from Tamco. And this led to the difficulty of substantiating products received. The analysis of this shortage by Phar-Mor accountant indicated that the inventory shortage or overbilling was around 4 million dollars. However, a settlement had been made by the two subsidiaries of Giant eagle for an amount of $7,000,000 giving Phar-Mor $2,000,000 profit for the year and this resulted in a nearly identical gross margin as prior year. In addition to this, another source of problems for Phar-Mor had began with the formation of the World Basketball League (WBL) in 1987 which led for the embezzlement...
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...Case 4.6 Phar-Mor, Inc. 6. A) Other high profile cases where a company has committed fraud by misstating inventory include Comptronix Corporation and Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company. B) It is particularly difficult to detect intentional misstatements of inventory because manual checks of inventory only occur semi-annually, management’s ability to alter these checks, and the cheer ability to miscount items due to sheer volume. Phar-Mor was capable of misleading their external auditors because the auditors of a retail store are not required to physically examine the inventory in each store. The auditing firm only examined inventory in four of the one hundred and twenty nine stores that existed. Phar-Mor also knew in advance which locations were going to be audited which allowed them to be able to fool Coopers & Lybrand for several years. C) Audit procedures such as implementing additional random visits to Phar-Mor stores to examine inventory, verifying shipments from suppliers and conducting an inquiry of individual store management could have helped prevent or detect the overstatement of inventory. 7. A) Factors that would have contributed to a high inherent risk assessment of Phar-Mor include their excessive growth in a highly competitive market, the motivation from management to maintain that growth, rapid expansion, results from previous audits, their involvement with related parties, inventory being their biggest account, and the random, flamboyant behavior of...
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...Fraud Case on Phar-Mor, Inc. Introduction Phar-Mor, Inc. was one of the top ten deep discount store that grew rapidly in a short period of time during the 1980s. Phar-Mor pricing strategy was to sell products at an even greater discount than other deep discount stores like Wal-Mart. While the practice of selling at such low cost attract customers, Phar-Mor was experiencing losses. The prices were cut so low that profit would not be generated. And this was how the fraud began. To prevent the truth from damaging Phar-Mor’s appearance, the president and other top management employees decided to cook the books by using creative accounting practices that were against the rules of GAAP and GAAS. Other than that, there was also an embezzlement of cash by the president and CFO of Phar-Mor. When the fraud was finally uncovered, investors have lost over one billion dollars, and the fraud was estimated to be over $500 million. Soon afterwards, Phar-Mor had to file for bankruptcy. By the end of the month, Phar-Mor had to lay off over 10,000 of their employees and close over 100 of their stores all across the state. Several charges were filed against Phar-Mor’s top executives and auditors. By the end of the trial, the financial statement fraud that occurred in Phar-Mor was deemed to be one of the largest corporate scandal recorded in history. Background The first Phar-Mor store was opened in Cleveland by Mickey Monus in 1982. According to JRO, Monus was the son of a businessman and...
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...The Case of Phar Mor Inc. Sara Munger ACCT 525: Current Issues in Accounting Professor: Sharon Brown July 12, 2014 The Case of Phar Mor Inc. Fraud will always be an issue but was more so in the past before there were any real guidelines that companies and accountants had to adhere to. People with higher positions within a company somehow let the power get to them at times and can use that to their advantage. Rather than taking that position and being responsible and set the proper example some set the wrong example. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act set standards to try to prevent future scandals like Phar Mor Inc., the Waste Management scandal and Enron. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was created after several major scandals that shook the world. These scandals made it clear that preventative measures needed to be taken in order to prevent any future scandals. Too many people/companies now believed that they were able to get away with fraud and it was acceptable as long as they did not get caught. This gave other employees the idea that this was acceptable behavior and needed to be stopped because it was affecting many people. The Phar Mor Inc. scandal had so many people involved that I am not sure as to whether or not it could have been prevented. An investigation revealed that Phar Mor was not receiving all of the inventory they were being billed for by their sister company Tamco. Phar Mor’s profit margins were suffering due to the missing inventory because they were...
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...Current Issues in Accounting The case of Phar-Mor Inc is new to me after coming across a number of scandals and I am excited to do research on it. Phar-Mor Inc is a deep discount drug store that was established in 1982. The business model was to by huge masses of products or alternatively called “power buying” and selling them at a huge discount of 25 to 40% of retail price (Lansing, 2011). In 2002, the corporation had 310 outlets with 25,000 employees in majority of the states, 34 to be precise. The problem was first discovered through misleading information concerning reporting inventories. Another problem was through the CEO Monus, who owned at least 60% of the 10 teams of the Worlds Basket Ball Leagues. It is a problem because the CEO was estimated to have embezzled $15 million in the corporation’s assets to support the teams. There are a number of other fraudulent factors involved that have increased the amount of fraud to 500 million! If SOX was enacted in 1992, then it would have helped in the following manner: Section 203, Audit Partner Rotation: “The new rules impose more rigorous standards of independence for the external auditors of SEC reporting companies (including foreign private issuers) than under existing SEC rules that existed” at the time of the Phar-Mor Inc scandal( Lansing, 2011 ). This also required more frequent partner rotation off an audit engagement team. If Coopers and Lybrand were not auditing Phar-Mor Inc on a continuous basis, meaning for...
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...Assignment Week 1 The Case of Phar-Mor Inc Devry University ACCT 525-15768 January 12, 2014 Abstract The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was implemented with the sole purpose of assuring the investors in the financial reporting system. One example is a case such as Phar-Mor which fabricated their inventory in most of their retail stores in order to conceal a massive fraud by the leading executives. Or the Waste Management scandal which did things such as capitalizing items which should have been left on the income statement in order to increase their assets. Lastly, Enron, which had such an elaborate scheme in place that it was hard to decipher and was only uncovered when the CEO stepped down. It is not to say that SOX could have prevented these scandals but instead it helped create this act that will help set place 11 laws or sections to help deter such elaborate frauds in future leading companies. Week 1 Assignment-The Case of Phar-Mor Inc The Phar-Mor accounting scandal of $500 million was a massive fraud conducted by upper management which ultimately led to its bankruptcy in 1992. President Michael Monus, chief financial officer Patrick Finn, vice president of finance Jeffrey Walley, controller Stanley Charelstein, and accounting manager John Anderson were all convicted of financial statement fraud. As a result of this fraud charges were also filed against Phar-Mor’s independence audit company, Coopers & Lybrand LLP (Coopers). It is in direct response to accounting...
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...Making Phar-Mor, Phar-Less Phar-Mor was a private company that was in the super-giant drug chain business. It had achieved exponential growth and was already being compared to Wal-Mart as one of the great American success stories. The company had grown in just seven years (1985-1992) from just a few stores to hundreds. Sales went from literally nothing to over $3 billion. The founders had become pillars of their communities owning sports teams and contributing substantially to local charities. Ultimately it turned out that the company was engaged in a massive fraud with literally all senior management involved in funneling misinformation to investors. Those personnel including the president and Chief Operating Officer, Mickey Monus, the CFO and all of the internal audit staff, misinformation was also given to the accountants, the creditors and debt holders as well as everyone else in the outside world that had anything to do with the financial side of Phar-Mor. Class action lawsuits were filed against the company by investors and ([127]) creditors while the accountants, Coopers and Lybrand were named under the Federal anti-fraud provisions of section 10b of the Securities Exchange Act and additional actions were commenced by the State of Pennsylvania under their statutes. The company went under in one of the biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history of a private company. Five hundred million was lost by debt-holders and creditors, management was assessed a total of $1 million...
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...What the Jury Heard in the PharMor Case 1 In the Phar‐Mor case, several members of top management confessed to, and were convicted of, financial statement fraud. Certain of Phar‐Mor’s creditors and investors subsequently brought suit against Phar‐Mor’s independent auditor, Coopers & Lybrand, alleging the firm was reckless in performing its audits. A jury found the audit firm liable for fraud. While this module can only contain a very small portion of what the jury heard in the five‐month trial, we identify the most important points presented to the jury through a careful review of the trial transcripts and selected interviews with attorneys who were in the courtroom on a daily basis. Unless otherwise noted, all facts and statements are based on actual trial transcripts. Background The $500 million accounting fraud at Phar‐Mor, Inc., led to the bankruptcy of one of the largest private companies in the United States in 1992. As a result of the company’s fraud and subsequent failure, charges were filed against both Phar‐Mor’s management and the company’s auditors. Phar‐Mor’s former management was collectively fined just over $1 million, and two former members of Phar‐Mor management received prison sentences. The company’s former auditors, Coopers & Lybrand LLP (Coopers), faced claims of more than $1 billion, although final settlements were a small fraction of that amount. Even though Phar‐Mor’s management, the plaintiffs’ attorneys, or anyone else associated with the case never ...
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...accounting fraud and auditor legal liability c a S eS inc lu de d in t hiS Se ction 4 89 99 4.1 Enron Corporation and Andersen, LLP Analyzing the Fall of Two Giants . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Comptronix Corporation 4.3 Cendant Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Identifying Inherent Risk and Control Risk Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 119 127 137 Assessing the Control Environment and Evaluating Risk of Financial Statement Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Waste Management, Inc. 4.5 Xerox Corporation 4.6 Phar-Mor, Inc. Manipulating Accounting Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evaluating Risk of Financial Statement Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accounting Fraud, Litigation, and Auditor Liability instructor resource Manual — do not coPy or redistribute instructor resource Manual — do not coPy or redistribute enron corporation and andersen, llP analyzing the fall of two giants inS tr uc t ional o b je c t ive S [1] c a s e 4.1 Mark S. Beasley · Frank A. Buckless · Steven M. Glover · Douglas F. Prawitt [2] [3] To help students understand what happened at Enron Corporation and how Andersen’s involvement with Enron led to the accounting firm’s downfall. To enhance students’ appreciation of the importance of understanding an audit client’s core business strategies. To develop students’...
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...behavior. Do you think “maintaining a culture that emphasizes ethics and compliance” is enough to prevent fraud? Do we need to focus on the dangers of unbridled greed and on inventing fancy investment instruments that few people understand but many people trade since no one wants to be left behind in the often believed unlimited profit potential of the markets? Title II of SOX consists of nine sections that establish standards for external auditor independence. The goal of Title II of SOX is to restrict auditing companies from providing non-audit services (e.g., consulting services) for the same clients in which they audit. In the article “The Case of Phar-Mor Inc.” the author Williams, S. Lansing (2011) presents a case study in hindsight to determine if the 1992 bankruptcy of the deep discount drugstore Phar-Moc Inc who cost its investors 500 million dollars might have been prevented if the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) had been in effect. Do you think that Title II, Section 203, “Audit Partner Rotation” and Title II, Section 206, “Conflicts of Interest” of SOX would have...
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...Auditing Cases An Interactive Learning Approach FIFTH M F S D E D ITIO N S. B A. B M. G F. P Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montreal Toronto Delhi Mexico City Sao Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo Editor in Chief: Donna Battista Acquisitions Editor: Stephanie Wall Editorial Project Manager: Christina Rumbaugh Senior Managing Editor: Cynthia Zonneveld Production Project Manager: Carol O'Rourke Senior Operations Supervisor: Diane Peirano Printer/Binder: BindRite Graphics, Robbinsville Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on the appropriate page within text. Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2006, 2003, 2000 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish...
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...Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting Text and Cases Steven M. Mintz, DBA, CPA Professor of Accounting California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Roselyn E. Morris, PhD, CPA Chair and Professor of Accounting Texas State University-San Marcos Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque, IA Madison, Wl New York San Francisco St. Louis Bangkok Bogota Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei Toronto Table of Contents Chapter 1 Integrity: The Basis for Ethics in Accounting 1 What Is Ethics? 1 Definition 1 Application of Ethical Reasoning in Accounting DigitPrint Case 33 32 Conclusion 34 Discussion Questions 34 Endnotes 36 Chapter 2 Cases 37 2 Case 2-1: A Faulty Budget 38 Case 2-2: Better Boston Beans 39 Case 2-3: Eating Time 40 Case 2-4: Is Internal Whistle-Blowing "Right"? Case 2-5: Play Ball 43 Case 2-6: Supreme Designs, Inc. 44 Case 2- 7: The City of West Buckle 46 Case 2-8: The CPA Review Course 47 Case 2-9: The Ethics ofiPod-ing 48 Case 2-10: The Tax Return 49 Distinguishing between Ethics and Morality Religious and Philosophical Foundations of Ethics 3 Teleology 4 Deontology 6 41 Acting with Integrity Personal Integrity 8 7 The Moral Point of View 7 The Six Pillars of Character.... 8 Trustworthiness 8 Respect 10 Responsibility 10 Fairness 11 Caring 11 Citizenship 12 Chapter 3 Ethical Decision Making in Business 50 What Is Business Ethics...
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...Auditing Cases instructor resource Manual f our th e d itio n Mark S. Beasley Frank A. Buckless Steven M. Glover Douglas F. Prawitt do not coPy or redistribute Prentice hall Upper Saddle River, New Jersey ta b l e s e ct ion o f co n t e n t s 1 2 client acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S o l u tionS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 1.1 Ocean Manufacturing, Inc. 3 The New Client Acceptance Decision s e ct ion Understanding the Client’s Business and assessing risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 S o l u tionS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 2.1 Your1040Return.com Evaluating eBusiness Revenue Recognition, Information Privacy, and Electronic Evidence Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.2 2.3 2.4 Dell Computer Corporation Evaluation of Client Business Risk Flash Technologies, Inc. Asher Farms Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Risk Analysis and Resolution of Client Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Understanding of Client’s Business Environment s e ct ion 3 Professional and ethical issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 S o l u tio nS inc lu de d in t h iS Section 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 A Day in the Life of Brent Dorsey Staff Auditor Professional Pressures Nathan Johnson’s Rental Car Reimbursement Solving Ethical Dilemmas–Should...
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...Using Teams in Production and Operations Management: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters. By: For: Class: Bus 508: Contemporary Business Date: 13 November 2012 Abstract: A case study for the Strayer University, Woodbridge, VA, Business 508 class, this paper provides for a brief review of 1) The skills that a forensic accountant requires; 2) The role of the forensic accountant in the courtroom; 3) The legal responsibilities of the forensic accountant; and lastly, 4) The role of the forensic accountant in a couple of major accounting fraud scandals. The world of Accounting has seen several major scandals since the early 1990s. These include major accounting failures such as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Tyco, Phar-Mor, Cendant, Computer Associates, AOL, Freddie Mac, ImClone, Qwest Communications, Royal Ahold, Health South Corporation, AIG, Lehman Brothers, and most recently the Olympus Corporation. Some of these have resulted in the collapse and dissolution of the company – Enron, Adelphia; others have resulted in a major restructuring of the company – AOL, AIG, Freddie Mac. Whatever the result, they have all been caused by accounting fraud – either “cooking the books” to hide major losses or to hide the theft of funds. It has also resulted in the failure and absorption of the one of the Big Five Accounting firms – Arthur Anderson. Besides the whistle blower who brought most of these to public view and the lawyers who have been involved their dismantling...
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...installing an grow rapidly and gain market share [5]. determines enterprise system FoxMeyer’s plans did not work out. (ES), SAP R/3. At the After its major customer, Phar-Mor, if a system time of its R/3 imple- implementation went bankrupt in May 1993, mentation, beginFoxMeyer signed a major new cuswill be ning in 1995, Dow Corning Incorporated successful? tomer, University Healthsystem Conwas a $2.5 billion producer of silicone sortium (UHC). However, the contract products. The company was facing comrequired major changes to the project. petitive pressures as well as lawsuits worth Costs soared to over $100 million; and $2 billion due to well-publicized problems with sili- in August 1996 FoxMeyer filed for Chapter 11 bankcone breast implants. Existing systems were frag- ruptcy protection, after taking a charge of $34 milmented and focused on specific departments, making lion the previous month for inventory and order it difficult to present a common face to the cus- mix-ups. Following liquidation of its major assets in tomer.The company decided that its survival November 1997, FoxMeyer’s trustee sued Andersen depended on reengineering its business processes to Consulting, SAP, and Deloitte for $500 million each become a truly global company, an objective it in July and August 1998. The case against Deloitte believed could be met only with appropriate informa- was dismissed in May 1999. tion systems. It created Business Processes and InforThere are many reports...
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