legislation Act of 2002 (SOX). This act was passed with the intent to restore public confidence and increase transparency in financial reports of publicly held companies, due to the aftermath of the financial scandals that plagued companies such as Enron and Worldcom (Jennings, 2012). The problem to be investigated is the ethical issues that were legislated by SOX, the cost associated with the implementation of the new act on different stakeholders, and new governance practices required of public
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Strengthening Corporate Accountability and Responsibility with Sarbanes-Oxley Act and COSO Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom. What does these companies and others have in common? They involved audit and corporate governance failures, resulting in the erosion of public confidence. Because of these high-profile corporate and accounting scandals, Congress passed the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act, commonly known as the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). SOX mandated
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accounting principles (GAAP). Companies have various kinds of ways to calculate their earnings by using estimates, therefore, it would lead to different kinds of results after estimating. Hence, there are more and more accounting scandals such as Enron, WorldCom etc. The main reasons for the problem about accounting numbers is that “investor, analysts, and money managers are having an increasingly hard time figuring out what judgments companies make to come up with those accruals or estimates” (Henry
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Summary Enron Corporation is an energy trading, natural gas, and electric utilities company based in Houston, Texas. Formed in 1931, it was originally known as Northern Natural Gas Company. In 1985, Enron was formed by Kenneth Lay after the merger of Houston natural Gas Company and Inter North (Nebraska Pipeline Company). Fortune magazine named Enron “America’s most innovative company for 6 consecutive years. But all that came crashing down in a very bad scandal better known as the Enron Scandal
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Two weeks into the trial of Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, the defense's strategy so far has been clear: Undermine the credibility of the government's witness and barrage the jury with a deluge of complicated and, sometimes, mind-numbing corporate conference calls in an effort to show the defendants were unaware of any corporate chicanery at the company. Skilling gets 24 years Lessons from Enron: Just say 'sorry' Meet the players It's a strategy that defense
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Arthur Andersen’s Troubles Ethics Case on pp. 107–113 (Ch. 2) of the text. Answer questions 1, 3, and 4 on p. 113 in 200 to 300 words. When responding to question 3, focus solely on the Enron case. 1. What did Arthur Andersen contribute to the Enron disaster? Arthur Andersen (AA) did not advise the Enron Audit Committee that Enron’s policies and internal control were not adequate to protect the shareholders’ interests even though AA had assumed Enron’s internal audit function (Brooks, 2007
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Internal Controls XACC/280 April 8, 2013 There are rules that have to be followed when documenting financial information in accounting. Internal controls are methods used by a company to make sure their finances and accounting information meet the accurate level of integrity. Internal controls operate well when they are used in multiple levels of the company and also in different departments. A lot of companies have standard practices when it comes to financial integrity. Internal controls
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Week Three Learning Team Reflection In 2002 an Act called Sarbanes-Qxey Act was passed. It was introduced to the House a “Corporate and Auditing Accountability Responsibility, and Transparency Act of 2002” by Michael Oxley. Then passed to the Senate as the “Public Company Accounting Reforms and investor Protection Act of 2002” According to Weikipedia.com it is “An Act to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliabilities of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and
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provide the presence of strong internal controls. ENRON possessed poor controls. * All transactions of a firm must be properly authorised meaning they must exist or occur e.g. * There must be accurate and complete accounting records. ERON’s CFO, Mr. Fastow was involved in tangling the accounting records and creative accounting to make the company look profitable. * Segregation of Duties must exist e.g. Andrew Fastow was CFO for ENRON but also the managing director for LJM and other offshore
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Arthur Andersen contribute to the Enron disaster? Arthur Andersen (AA) contributed in several ways to the disaster of Enron. AA collected fees for consulting advice and approved as auditors and consultants the structure of Special Purpose Entities (SPE). The SPE’s were used to hide Enron’s true financial situation. False profits were generated, losses were hid, and financing was kept off of Enron’s consolidated financial statements. The auditors did not enforce Enron to institute internal controls
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