Accounting Scandal (Xerox) Essay

The situation began to unfold when the Securities and Exchange Commission was probing into a restatement of the company's stock price. Kozlowski's business practices raised some eyebrows. In 1999, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated an inquiry into Tyco's practices that resulted in a restatement of the company's earnings. In January, 2002, questionable accounting practices came to light. Tyco had forgiven a $19 million, no-interest loan to Kozlowski in 1998 and had paid the CEO's income taxes on the loan. It was found that he company's stock price had been overrated, and that the CEO and CFO had sold 100 million dollars' worth of shares, and then stated to the public that he was holding them, which was a misrepresentation and misled the investors.

Organizational misconduct is the chief cause behind corporate accounting scandals. The trusted executives of the corporation participation in actions during a scandal are corrupt and illegal. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is typically the government agency that investigates such scandals. One of the most notorious corporate accounting scandals in the United States is the HealthSouth Corporation scandal of 2003. HealthSouth Corporation is one of the United States largest health care providers with locations nationwide. A deeper inspection of the HealthSouth scandal is needed to understand how it transpired by assessing how it was executed, the accounting issues and root of the issue, how it was exposed, the results to the company and its officers, and warranted ramifications as an outcome of the scandal.

Overview of the Case: The Securities and Exchange Commission claims Mark D. Begelman misused proprietary information regarding the merger of Bluegreen Corporation with BFC Financial Corporation. Mr. Begelman allegedly learned of the acquisition through a network of professional connections known as the World Presidents’ Organization (Maglich). Members of this organization freely share non-public business information with other members in confidence; however, Mr. Begelman allegedly did not abide by the organization’s mandate of secrecy and leveraged private information into a lucrative security transaction. As stated in the summary of the case by the SEC, “Mark D. Begelman, a member of the World Presidents’ Organization (“WPO”), abused

On May 26, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in SEC v. Graham, No. 14-13562 (11th Cir. May 26, 2016), reached an important decision. The court extended the reach of 28 U.S.C. § 2462, the five-year statute of limitations for “any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture” applicable to enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The court held that SEC enforcement actions for declaratory relief and disgorgement were subject to the five-year statute of limitations. The Eleventh Circuit built its ruling on top of a decision by the Supreme Court, Gabelli v. SEC, 133 S. Ct. 1216 (2013), which held that 28 U.S.C. § 2462 applied to SEC civil penalty actions.

Access the "Litigation" section of the SEC's website at www.sec.gov/litigation.shtml. Click on "Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases." Click on "AAER-3234" filed January 20, 2011. Read the release and the related SEC Complaint. Summarize the release and complaint in 2-3 pages (12-point, double spaced).

This particular case, involving the SEC, Coopers & Lybrand, and California Micro Devices, Inc. encompasses charges for neglecting to comply with auditing standards. The Securities and Exchange Commission makes these charges against Michael Marrie, audit partner, and Brian Berry, manager, of Coopers & Lybrand. There are three main areas in which the auditing standards were not in compliance, a write-off of accounts receivable, confirmation of accounts receivable and sales returns and allowances. The Securities and Exchange Commission make these accusations against Michael and Brian for failure

Also we know that Daniel Berman was the Finance Director at the company. His issue was he felt some of the accounting practices violated SEC regulation. By relaying the information to a senior officer, he is considered a whistleblower. As the Finance Director, all dealings in the finance/accounting department(s) fall on him whether right or wrong. I believe he was justified in relaying the information based on how it could eventually negatively affect the company. With him being terminated, he decided to sue his former employer and the case was dismissed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As a result of the case being dismissed it was then filed with the United States Court of Appeal Fifth Circuit and ruled the judgment reversed and case remanded. Under Sarbanes-Oxley, Berman is protected because he was retaliated against for reporting suspected corporate fraud. In this case, Berman sued on the basis of the retaliation policy in Dodd-Frank related to the definition of a whistleblower in Sarbanes-Oxley. Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley are so similar that either way he was protected in his

As the CEO of Xerox Ursula Burns demonstrates many strengths and weakness, some of which stand out more than others. Ms. Burns is very innovative not only in her leadership style, but also in the products and services the company now offers. Last year in 2012,

Xerox hopes to avoid mistakes of the past by having “a system to prevent technology from leaking out of the company”, according to Robert V. Adams, president of XTV. They have a $30 million dollar fund to support this intrapreneurial activity. It has supported a dozen start-ups thus far, only two having failed. These are extremely promising numbers, with 83% of ventures coming to fruition.

We live in a world where, because of the Internet and the Web, we can communicate with someone in Africa or Asia as easily as we can communicate with someone in the office next door. A company like Xerox represents businesses all over the world, and the diversity of its employees is a big plus. Acknowledging our differences and

On March 19 of the year 2003, Securities and Exchange Commission brought the trading of HealthSouth to an end on the New York stock exchange, charging the company for inflating its earnings by more than 10 percent and overstated its profits by more than $2.5 billion between 1999 and 2002. HealthSouth’s trading reached to $30.81 in the year 1998, but ever since the trading of the company has been put to an end it reached to $3.91 per share. One week later, Owens pleaded guilty to changing and editing the company’s financial statements.

It was Roy Olofson, along with suing investors who “blew the whistle” for Global Crossing Ltd. According to Olofson’s attorney, he just wants a restitution for the job that he lost but isn’t likely to get it from the entity since it was then under a bankruptcy protection. Roy Olofson was formerly the VP for Finance of Global Crossing and is responsible for preparing the Financial Statements and SEC filings.

Main character in this fraud is Mr. Dennis Kozlowski, the CEO of Tyco. He misappropriated around $270 million through unauthorized loans, sale of Tyco securities and undisclosed compensation. In order to conceal these amounts, the compensation was incorrectly offset against unrelated gains. This led to violation of GAAP and misrepresented financial statements. For example, $44.6 million of bonuses were offset against gain from IPO of one of Tyco’s subsidiaries. They have also netted the bonuses with gain on disposal of business and gain on sale of common stock. According to ASC 718 Compensation, these and other bonuses should have been disclosed in operating earnings and should have decreased operating income. However, since they were offset against one-time gains, they did not have any impact on operating income. This “hiding” of compensation occurred on several occasions – the expenses were also netted against gain on sale

Financial Research – The Xerox Abstract On April 8th, 2002, the Xerox Corporation ("Xerox") announced its willingness to accept the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reach a settlement with the conditions. Thereafter, its financial fraud became surfaced. On June 28th, Xerox Corporation in accordance with the requirements of the settlement, submitted the unaudited 1997-2000 restated annual financial statements to the SEC, and recognized fraud interest income of $6.4 billion, pre-tax profit of $1.4 billion (SEC thought that should be $1.5 billion) during this period, which sparked

Major advantage with this option is the fact that Xerox operates in the market it fully knows, dominates and controls. As a market leader, having gained clear edge over main competitor IBM, Xerox can consolidate its position with the introduction of innovative new product "Book-In-Time solution" that could significantly reduce the publishing costs.