Behind Closed Doors at WorldCom Essay

1.Two General Accounting employeesDan Renfroe and Angela Walter do journal entries in the amount of $150 million and $171 million, respectively, with come forward detailed alimentation. It was noted that this was not out of the ordinary at WorldCom. In your opinion, was this a proper accounting practice? Explain. Though this may not be out of the ordinary for WorldCom, this is not a correct accounting practice. The way the entries were made does not comply with the proper account practice according to GAAP. Detailed support is an important part of providing support to a journal entry and it relieves the reason or purpose as to why the journal entry was created.2.Based on GAPP, describe the propriety or conversancy of releasing of $150 million in line of credit cost accruals in the Wireless division over Deloris DiCiccos objections. Support your position using the imperious accounting literature. When instructed to reduce the Wireless Divisions line cost by $150 million due to sa vings from the prior period, DiCicco refused because there was no support for the entry. WorldCom would prep ar an adjusting entry each month to recognize the estimated cost of the period as period expense, by capitalizing the expense as an accrued interest. check to GAAP, a line item cost must be reported as an expense on a companys income statement. WorldCom capitalized the line expense, kinda of expensing it and placed it on the balance sheet as an accrued liability rather than on the income statement as an operating expense.3.On the topic of capitalizing line costs, review article the rationale included in CEO Scott Sullivans White Paper. Based on your own analysis of GAAP, explain the propriety or impropriety of capitalizing line costs in the telecom industry. In the White Paper presented to the Board of Directors, the CEO Scott Sullivan supported the decision to capitalize line costs. Sullivan provided that the White Paper was in line with the companys goal of maintaining s trong growth rate through increasing its capital investment. Management noted that the treatment of the E/R cots as an asset was in no way in any contradiction of the definition of an asset as per FASB Concept Statement No. 6 which states, Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events. However, as per GAAP, line costs must be reported as an expense in the companys income statement as these are fundamentally,operating expenses. It was plant in the Balance Sheet as an accrued liability rather than in the income statement as an accrued expense. This resulted in falsely projecting income and benefit and concealing huge losses by wrongly capitalizing the line costs.4.Consider journal entry that recognized $35 million of revenue in 2001 from the EDS bewilder based on WorlComs expectation that the five-year required cumulative minimum payment would not be met. Based on your own analysis of GAAP, expl ain the propriety to impropriety of this journal entry. This is not in compliance with the provisions of GAAP or SAB 101. Revenue should not be recognized until it is realized or becomes realizable and earned. If we followed this statement the company did not have realized revenue Furthermore, the penalty payments if enforced could not be paid till the year 2005 as stated in the contract. Also, the journal entry resulted in recognizing revenue when it was not earned or realized and thus, overstated the profits.5.Why do you think the professionals in this case, more or less of whom are CPAs, would agree to record a material journal entry contrary to their best professional judgment? I think that in many situations employees were able to twist statements which follow GAAP guidelines. May employees were convinced they were doing the right thing and those that were unwilling to participate were overlooked. Most of the material journal entries which were made contrary to best judgment w ere so done with a view to mask the declining profits and to show increasing profits, which in turn would increase stock prices.6.In general, how does the role of Internal Auditing differ from the role of Independent (or External) Auditing? What is the role of Internal Auditing in a well-run corporation? When commited by internal scrutinizeors, what is a financial study versus an operating audit? Do you think WorldComs Internal Audit Department was functioning as it should have been? Explain. Internal auditors work within an transcription and report to its audit committee and/or directors. They help to design the companys organizing systems and help develop specific risk management policies. External auditors are independent of the placement they are auditing. They report to the companys shareholders. They provide their experienced opinion on the truthfulness of the companys financial statements and perform work on a test basis to monitor systems in place. Internal Auditingis designed to look at the key risks facing the assembly line and how the business is managing those risks effectively. It usually results in recommendations for improvement across departments. Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organizations operations.It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. A financial audit is an audit or examination of the financial reporting process, determining the reliability and integrity of the financial statements and preparation of such statements. It also involves an appraisal of the internal controls related to the pay function of the enterprise. An operational audit, on the other hand, is a systematic review and evaluation of an operational unit in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency of operations, performance of its laid down objectives and goals, and determining its appropriateness in the use of various resources. It is clear that the WorldComs Internal Audit department was not functioning as it should have been. It was concentrating only on operational audits and totally avoiding financial audits. On the cause of cost-saving, it clearly avoided any and every function which could overlap with the role of the extraneous auditors.