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  Case 35: Parmalat (Italy, 2003)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …course of a decade. Many analysts took to calling Parmalat “Europe’s Enron”. Indeed, the scandal was so massive that it compares to Enron, WorldCom and… …that its accounting principles were in line with established international accounting standards as well as Italian standards. Yet it appeared not to be… …originality and unique appeal of Parmalat milk soon made it very popular and business expanded to other parts of Italy. Parmalat tried to style itself as the… …“Coca-Cola of milk”. In 1990, Parmalat was listed on the Milan stock exchange – and Tanzi built it into an Italian powerhouse with operations in some… …discovered. The collapse: How it all happened But as Tanzi’s empire grew, so did the debts. Some of the best-known European and American bank… …network of offshore shell companies. Whereas at first, Parmalat did not conform to the usual profile of a risky enterprise, it now operated through a… …, the Isle of Man and Malta. In early December 2003, analysts began to raise questions about Parmalat’s liquidity when the company let it be… …known that it could not access about EUR 500 million in supposedly liquid funds held in an obscure Cayman Islands-registered investment fund called… …“Epicu- rum”. Parmalat soon shocked financial markets when it revealed that it was having trouble coming up with the money to make a EUR 150 million bond… …repayment even though it supposedly had billions in cash and cash equivalents. The scandal came to light with the revelation of a non-existent bank…

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  A Practice Aid for Auditors: Fraud Interviews – An Inquiry Guide

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …practice aid designed to help the audit team to plan and tailor these fraud interviews as required by the international auditing standards. It in- cludes… …all the relevant topics to be covered with suggested questions. It is not meant to be used as a questionnaire, seeking answers to each question in… …monitor operating locations? How does it monitor these locations and what has it found? – Are there locations, business segments, activities or… …fraudulent financial reporting or misappropriation of assets? – Where in your organization would it be the easiest to commit and/or the hardest to detect… …how it believes the internal control structure serves to prevent and detect material misstatements due to fraud? If so, what was reported?… …controls through year-end adjustments or significant unusual transactions? – Does internal audit monitor operating locations? How does it monitor these… …locations and what has it found? – Is internal audit concerned about the integrity (as it may relate to fraudulent financial reporting or misappropriation… …Officer / Chief Ethics Officer – Has the company established an ethics code? If so, how was it introduced? Is it a helpful guidance on ethical… …dilemmas? Does it cover international dimensions? How openly are ethical issues discussed? Is the process of communication effective? – What… …company’s IT internal control? How do you believe the IT internal control structure serves to prevent or detect material misstatements due to fraud? Please…

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  Case 17: Global Crossing (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 118 Case 17: Global Crossing (2002) Had the attention not been for Enron (the scandal that had it all at… …Crossing abruptly collapsed into bankruptcy in early 2002. On January 28, the company filed for Chapter 11, making it one of the biggest bankruptcies in… …is also part of the wider story of the meltdown in the telecom- munications industry. It epitomized the boom and bust of the so-called “broadband… …network and to sell capacity on that network to other providers and users of telecommunications services. Within four years, it built a 100,000-mile… …registered in Hamilton, Bermuda and run from Florham Park, New Jersey) was a stock market darling during the high-tech mania. But in 2001, when it became… …clear that there were not enough customers paying for the network, Global Crossing began its descent. Ultimately, the company had to acknowledge that it… …not have met analysts’ estimates. In its disclosures, Global Crossing stated that it had sold substantial amounts of capacity to customers to… …whom it had also made substantial cash commitments. The company disclosed the gross dollar amounts of these sales and purchases as well. Nevertheless… …specify that it was becoming increasingly reliant on the reciprocal transactions as a source of cash revenue. Eventually, it failed to disclose that in… …several reciprocal transactions, it purchased capacity that would not be ready for service until some time after the end of the quarter (in some cases…

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  Case 13: WorldCom (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …was going to be the next fraudulent company. It turned out to be WorldCom, Inc., at the time the second largest long-distance telecommunications… …SEC said that WorldCom’s accounting improprieties were of “unprecedented magnitude”. But as enormous as the fraud was, it was accomplished in a… …relatively mundane way. The modus oper- andi of the fraud was rather simple, and it was carried out over a comparatively short period of time. Yet the… …Corp. because of antitrust objections. WorldCom’s position as fast-growing provider of integrated telecommunications services (it provided a broad… …demanded that his subordinates met those expectations. It was when he had the greatest need to keep WorldCom’s stock price up that the largest part of the… …standards others will follow.” It was shortly after Ebbers had left that the fraud was discovered and disclosed. Fraud detection and disclosure As… …that it was not her problem. When she continued to raise her concerns, she was told by WorldCom’s CFO, Scott Sullivan (to whom internal audit reported)… …advised of the issue, took it seriously and directed prompt attention to it. On June 20, Cooper attended an audit committee meeting at which Sullivan was… …. Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 95 WorldCom announced that it intended to restate its financial statements for 2001 and the first quarter of… …2002. It stated that certain transfers from “line cost expenses” to asset accounts, totalling USD 3.85 billion during this period, were not made in…

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  Case 12: Enron (2001)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …become synonymous with corporate malfeasance. However, compared to other accounting frauds, the Enron fraud was very complicated; it involved many… …reports. They didn’t have to lie. All they had to do was to obfuscate it with sheer complexity – although they lied, too.” The impact of the fraud was… …far-reaching, to say the least. It led to the bankruptcy of the once high-flying energy company in late 2001, marking one of the biggest corporate failures in… …since October 1929”. Besides, the fraud ushered in a wave of prosecutions against white-collar crime at the highest levels of American business, and it… …originated a strong reaction (possibly an overreaction) from the regulatory bodies as well. Thus, it is of great importance to understand what actually… …business model: create a “gas bank” in which Enron would buy gas from a network of suppliers and sell it to customers, contractually guaranteeing both the… …outside the United States. The market endorsed Enron’s “new economy” business strategy. In 2000, Enron reported revenues of USD 101 billion, making it… …of these negative developments, it is quite astonishing that by the end of the year, Enron’s image was in tatters and its stock price had plummeted… …(primarily for the water and broadband businesses). It also disclosed a mysterious USD 1.2 billion reduction in shareholder equity, mainly as a result of the… …reversal of dealings with certain off-balance-sheet partnerships, called “the Raptors” (October 16). - Enron announced that it had changed plan…

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  Fraud Theories

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …Fraud Case Analysis: Lessons Learned 276 3.3 Fraud Theories 3.3.1 The Fraud Triangle Although it is common knowledge today that people… …may commit fraud, it is often not understood why they do it. Donald R. Cressey, one of the pioneers in fraud re- search, came to the conclusion that… …less rationalization it takes to motivate someone to commit a fraud. Likewise, the more dishonest a person is, the less opportunity or the less… …pressure it takes to motivate fraud. Fraud-fighters focus their preventive efforts primarily on only one of the three elements of the fraud triangle… …simply in the outcome. Scientists call this motivation the “ego challenge”: it relates to the sense of superiority over others and to the gratification… …obtained from the mastery of an exciting situation. It also reflects the pride of a professional “con artist”. Attitudes are the values and ethical… …honest all the time. Another 20% are basically dishonest, and about 60% are “situationally honest” (that is, honest where it pays to be honest and… …dishonest where it pays to be dishonest). However, most of the organizations are convinced that their executives are among the 20% who are honest. Unfortu-… …nately, quite frequently, this is not the case. Rationalization is how the fraudster justifies his inappropriate actions. In other words, it is the… …soon as we get over this financial difficulty.” – “Business is business. Everybody else does it.” Of course, there are countless other…

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  Case 6: Bausch & Lomb (1994)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …with a strong position in the optical products and eye-care sector. It was a leading manu- facturer of contact lenses and sunglasses, and it had charmed… …contact lenses, which were marketed to be worn for short intervals of several days. Bausch & Lomb had entered the disposable lens market late because it… …had not wanted to cannibalize existing product lines, and it wished to continue to maximize its traditional SVS sales. Unfortunately, during 1993, it… …optical practitioners. In September 1993, the CLD concluded a particularly aggressive promotion campaign whereby it sold its distributors a large amount… …estimates indicated that it might take some dis- tributors up to two years to sell the SVS lenses that CLD management was expect- Accounting Fraud in U.S… …US- GAAP, with respect to revenue recognition. Under GAAP, revenue should not be recognized in company statements until it is realized and earned… …date. The accounting scandal led to the departure of several CLD executives, and it severely tested inves- Accounting Fraud in U.S. Companies 53… …After the scheme was discovered, company management replaced all Hong Kong personnel that it held responsible for the fraud. There was no evidence that…

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  Case 7: Waste Management (1997)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …scandal that is far more than just a financial history lesson. It portrays a multiyear effort to inflate reported profits at Waste Management, Inc. (WMI)… …, using fraudulent accounting practices that allowed the company to hide about USD 1.7 billion in expenses from 1992 through part of 1997. It also… …client”. It indicated that WMI actively managed re- ported results, had a history of making significant fourth quarter adjustments, and was in an industry… …later described it as a “boondoggle”. Obviously lacking auditor independence, Andersen had too cozy a relationship with WMI. Eventually, Andersen… …Ander- sen’s willingness to bend on such issues was a result of the fees it was receiving from WMI. Andersen had actually quantified the misstatements and… …had annually presented company management with what it called “Proposed Adjusting Journal Entries” (PAJEs) to correct the misstatements. But WMI… …equipment”; then, it depreciated these costs over forty years) – avoided depreciation expenses on their garbage trucks by assigning unsup- ported and… …those assumptions, keeping the revi- sions hidden from the subsidiaries. “Keeping the process secret and centralizing it made it especially easy for top…

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  Case 19: Adelphia Communications (2002)

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …prosecutions in U.S. history. The SEC called it “one of the most extensive financial frauds ever to take place at a public company”. However, the thing that… …of all the cases. It should become a show-and-tell in all busi- ness schools as the antithesis of public company management and stewardship.” In… …March 27, 2002, when it disclosed that the Rigas family had borrowed USD 2.3 billion from banks through various family-owned partnerships, using… …was already too deeply in debt. Barraged with questions, the company stated that it reviewed its accounting and would not meet the deadline for filing… …series of sham transactions (backed by fictitious documents) to give the false impression that it had actually repaid debts when, in truth, it had simply… …shifted them to off-balance sheet affiliates. Furthermore, it cre- ated misleading financial statements by giving the false appearance (through the use of… …footnotes) that the listed liabilities included all outstanding bank debt. Because Adelphia massively understated its liabilities, it falsely represented in… …public filings that it was complying with financial covenants and related financial ratio require- ments, when it was not. Misrepresentations… …secretly inflated its basic cable subscription numbers to make inves- tors think it was still growing at a healthy pace and expanding its customer base. For… …plant that had been “rebuilt” or made “two-way capable”, in order to convey the false impression that it had modernized its network. For Adelphia…

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  Chapter 4: Conclusion and Outlook

  Prof. Dr. Klaus Henselmann, Dr. Stefan Hofmann

  …, relatively infrequent in occurrence), and it must be shocking (that is, counter to our norms and values). Wilson argued that the public pays little attention… …sible for fighting fraud, one inevitable reality remains: “fraud happens”. It is a given that economic crime will always be with us. Eliminating fraud is… …a super- human task. However, a review of the scandals shows that in most of the cases, it is basically the same common pattern. A company faced… …. Often it starts as a one-shot deal to meet short term fi- nancial expectations. But it escalates to ongoing fraudulent activity until, with some… …accounting fraud can be summarized as follows (see Young 2004, pp. 11–13): 1. It generally doesn’t origin from conscious dishonesty. It doesn’t start… …because the CEO is dishonest, or because the CFO is dishonest. It also doesn’t start because the company had the misfortune of hiring a group of dishonest… …employees in its accounting department. 2. It origins from pressure. In particular, it starts with an environment in which two things are present… …: challenging targets of financial performance, and the perception that missing these targets will be viewed as unforgivable. 3. It starts out small. The… …fraud starts with little alterations of results (typically in the form of borrowing from future quarters). It doesn’t start with a grand plan or… …conspiracy. Often, the one or two perpetrators don’t even realize that they are stepping over the line and might be violating accounting standards. 4. It…

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