Ethicality of Accounting Activities

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Ethicality of Accounting Activities Heather Chilgren, Steven McQueen, Xavier Reyes ETH/376 11/13/2014 Sylvia Baughey Ethicality of Accounting Activities Worldcom was one of the largest companies in the telecommunications industry during the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Worldcom is known for its accounting scandal and filing for largest bankruptcy protection in the history of the U.S. A small group of auditors investigated fraud that was estimated to be over $3.8 billion. We will evaluate the ethicality of Cynthia Cooper, the accounting activity, key individuals within the case and determine whether their actions were ethical or unethical. The accounting activity that was presented in the case was the falsifying of accounting entries that were unethical. The entries were booked as “capital expenditures” on the balance sheet instead of an expense. According to "What Went Wrong at Worldcom" (2002), “Such expenses must be immediately recognized in the period incurred, unlike expenditures which can legitimately be capitalized as assets and depreciated over their useful life.”(para. 7) The transfer of funds from one account to another led to over $3 billion in cost, this accounting was not justified by GAAP. The reason for this was to hide the earnings that were plummeting and to keep their stock at a high so that they may attract more investors. The company inflated the assets and made the entries seem as though they had income. The Code of Professional Conduct of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants establishes rules and principles for the accounting profession to follow. The actions that were taken by the executive team at Worldcom violated the guidelines that had been established to protect the industry, government and the public. Generally accepted accounting principles require that a company expense the lease costs as they

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