Adelphia Communications Corporation: Financial Statements

In the March of the early 2000s, Adelphia officials was charged with stealing on what could be classified as a “grand scale” event. Around that same time, the company

2) Frank A. Tassone; the former business manager, Pamela Gluckin; and an accounting clerk, Debra Rigano, who is a niece of Ms. Gluckin embezzled money in a scheme in which Dr. Tassone and Ms. Gluckin and nine of their family members and friends charged $5.9 million for personal items and cash advances on 74 personal credit cards. Then Ms. Gluckin and Dr. Tassone used district checks to pay those bills. The audit found that Dr. Tassone and

As a publicly-traded corporation, Adelphia, Inc. was one of the largest providers of cable services in the United States. After the company went public, it was learned that the company had materially

Comcast is planning expanding globally. With the main competition with the Dish Television Network. Comcast’s have devised

In October of 2013, the case alleges that the three individuals each contributed $3,000 to create a limited liability company called JailCigs. That company was created with the intent of selling

On July 17, 2003 a California Grand Jury filed an indictment against Barry Weinbaum; Tenet Healthsystem Hospitals, Inc.; and Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, Inc. stating the defendants “did knowingly and intentionally conspire with each other

Comcast Corporation, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest cable company in the United States. Comcast develops broadband cable networks and are involved in electronic retailing and television programming content.

According to Stafford and Heilprin, “American Cable Communications (ACC) was one of the largest cable operators in the United States (AirThread Case).” ACC serviced roughly 24.1 million video subscribers, 13.2 million high-speed internet subscribers, and 4.6 million landline telephony subscribers. In 2007, ACC saw revenues of $30.9 billion and had net income equaling $2.6 billion. In order to adapt to the changes in the industry, ACC started aggressively acquiring smaller companies, which resulted in huge customer growth and the development of, “a strong corporate finance team with significant acumen in identifying, valuing, structuring, and executing corporate control transaction (AirThread Case).” That being said, ACC has set its sights on yet another company--AirThread Connections--with the expectation of further revenue growth and customer acquisition and retention.

The executives are accountable to the board of directors. Instead of protecting the investors, the board enticed the culture of financial fraud in the company for selfish gains. It failed in its duties in keeping the executives in check.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Adelphia Communications’ leadership, particularly the Rigas family, violated the trust of the public and its investors through unethical and illegal business practices. First, a synopsis of the Adelphia scandal will be presented. Next, a brief overview of ethics and how they apply to maintaining good business and public trust will be discussed. Following the ethics overview, an outline of deontology and Kant’s Categorical Imperative will be covered. Finally, the business practices and ethical issues with the Adelphia scandal will be analyzed using the deontological framework and Kant’s Categorical Imperative.

The next study that is examined was the Five Competitive Forces. This shows the industry’s competitors, threats of new entrants and substitutes, and the power of the customers and suppliers. The main rival competitors within the TV service providers industry are Dish Network, Direct TV, Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Atlantic Broadband. The rivalry of these competitors could lead to lower profits due to price competition and new technology as each is trying to stay competitive in the industry.

Headquartered in Texas, Teletech Corporation operates under two main business segments: the Telecommunications Services segment, providing various telephone services to business and residential customers and the Products & Systems segment, which manufactures computing and telecommunications equipment. In late 2005, the Securities & Exchange Commission revealed that billionaire Victor Yossarian acquired a 10% stake in Teletech and demanded two seats on the board of directors. He felt that the firm was misusing their resources and not earning a sufficient return. He stated that Teletech should sell off its Product & Systems segment and focus on creating value for the company’s shareholders. A detailed analysis will reveal

As the turn of the 21st Century evolved, it appeared as if Adelphia Communications Corporation was on a direct path of success; unbeknownst to their investors and the public, they were in reality on a direct path of destruction instead. Unfortunately, Adelphia is not the first major company in the history of the United States’ business world to lose the trust of the American public, but it is certainly one of the most notable ones to do so. As the events surrounding the Adelphia scandal unfolded in full view of the public eye, a multitude of media outlets were there to broadcast the destruction and distrust to the masses leaving many wondering if the term “business ethics” was actually nothing more than just an oxymoron. Throughout this

In 1952, John Rigas purchased his own cable company. By the late 1990's, he had turned it into the sixth largest cable company in the United States with 5.6 million customers. The business was always run as a family style business which led to fraudulent acts among family members and upper level executives. The family has been accused of stealing $3.1 billion from Adelphia and is now facing criminal charges. Adelphia was forced to file chapter 11 bankruptcy and as of April 24, 2004, the new board of directors made the decision to break up the company and sell it. The Adelphia scandal is morally wrong because the Rigas family coerced and exploited employees, harmed all stakeholders as well as stockholders, and

Cable provider Adelphia was one of the major accounting scandals of the early 2000s that led to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A key provision of the Act was to create a stronger ethical climate in the auditing profession, a consequence of the apparent role that auditors played in some of the scandals. SOX mandated that auditors cannot audit the same companies for which they provide consulting services, as this link was perceived to result in audit teams being pressured to perform lax audits in order to secure more consulting business from the clients. There were other provisions in SOX that increased the regulatory burden on the auditing profession in response to lax auditing practices in scandals like Adelphia (McConnell & Banks, 2003). This paper will address the Adelphia scandal as it relates to the auditors, and the deontological ethics of the situation.