Case Study Audit

Read the David Miller case from Chapter 5. After reading the case, describe a reason why someone who has been entrusted with the firm’s assets would commit a fraudulent act against the company. Based upon your understanding of the case and your professional and personal experience, recommend a series of actions that should have been taken in order to pre

The organizational structure of Phar-Mor was ineffective and lacked many control activities including: segregation of duties, authorization, documentary and IT controls. As a result, Phar-Mor’s president had a stronghold on certain upper level management and executives which gave him the opportunity to control the fraud and hide it from other members of the organization and supposedly Phar-Mor’s auditors, Coopers and Lybrand LLP.

1. The three aspects of fraud - Perceived pressure, Rationalization, and Opportunity were present in the CIT case as follows:

The one pattern within the data that appears to be inconsistent yet if the auditors had established an internal control systems would be Monus the founder moving so freely throughout every aspect of the company with no one checking his movements. From choosing what properties to purchase to purchasing supplies. In any company there should be segregation of duties. For example, the person making the deposits should not be the person writing the checks. Had there been stipulations made it would not have been so convenient to commit the

In the case of Phar-Mor fraud, the company was involved in cover up and some accounts were created to hide the fraudulent activities. Bad inventory counts in the stores were made to help with the cover up and deceit about activities that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. (Williams, S.L., 2011)

In this case we are introduced to Ben Freeman, an employee at the Provincial Power Corporation (PPC) for the past three years. Ben has found himself in the ethical dilemma of whether or not to steal the five hundred dollar holiday bonus fund from his work. Ben desperately needs this money in order to pay off his gambling debt and protect his physical wellbeing from the gangsters he borrowed from. His plan is to steal the holiday bonus fund and frame one of his coworkers Sue Macdonald in order to divert suspicion away from him. Ben knows that if he is caught stealing the money, he will surely lose his job.

This paper explores the ZZZZ Best Company which was begun by a 16 year old individual who was able to pull the wool over the eyes of many customers, investors and auditors. This paper will define the difference between review and audit when it comes to financial reports, comments on the procedures provided with regard to the management assertion of occurrence, verification of payments for jobs and how they can lead auditors to improper conclusion, the purpose of predecessor-successor auditor communications, as well as whom needs to initiate the communication and information that needs to be obtained. The paper also addresses the limitations of the confidentiality agreement and how and when

The auditing firm has been in engagement with the company throughout the period when the fraud was being committed. One of the common and clear indicators of possible fraud was the company’s cash flow statement. The company experienced positive growth in its profits from the year 1996 through to the year 1998. However, a close analysis of the cash flow statement shows that the company had experienced negative figures of cash flow from both operating and investing activities and positive cash flow from financing activities which would not sufficiently offset the negative cash flows from operating and investing. It is therefore evident

Phar-Mor was known as one of the major discount chain retailers in the late 1980’s - early 1990’s. It was founded by Mickey Monus, a gambler in nature, who with the help of senior management was “cooking the books” for years to cover up his loses. The reason why senior management agreed to do this fraud is the belief in unique ability of their leader to fix everything later on. This case is known as one of the biggest accounting frauds in the corporate history of the U.S. This paper will analyze who was affected by this fraud, the motives behind it and what systems of control failed to prevent it.

I will start my discussion of the fraudulent activity of the MiniScribe (the Company) by reviewing the background activity. Secondly, I will discuss the fraudulent activity of the Company. Thirdly, I will classify the fraud that the company perpetuated and lastly, I will point out any red flag indicators that occurred within the Company.

This paper introduces Bernard L. Madoff a fraudster who orchestrated a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The paper discusses elements that make up a Ponzi scheme and explains what a Ponzi scheme is. The paper goes on to introduce some of the victim’s and examines some reasons why someone might fall victim to a Ponzi scheme. The paper describes the three elements making up the fraud triangle and how they relate to the fraud and the fraudster. This paper covers Bernard Madoff’s background and history and how he committed the fraud analyzing the fraud triangle. The paper describes ways to correct the issue, accounting principles violated, and recommendations for a fix. Finally, the paper looks at internal and external controls violated and ends with a conclusion.

The second part is opportunity. The opportunity to commit fraud usually arises through weak internal controls.

c) Why had other Max & Co. accountants, specifically Kate Conrad, not perpetuated fraud at Rusher prior to Anna’s hiring?

Phar-Mor Inc. fell prey to greed from the top. Unfortunately, the auditing firm assisted the organization with the conspiracy to defraud the users of financial reporting, the government, and the stakeholders. The chief officers used the funds for personal usage and appropriated funds to functions that were not related to the organization business. The financial statements were riddled with material misstatements and fraud acts of theft were blatant. For example, the senior financial officers including the CEO grossly over stated inventory to hide losses.

Based on the case given, the bank controllers were only instructed to monitor the net trading positions, but not the Dalta One traders’ gross exposure. The bank controllers did not inform their supervisors when they had noticed that Kerviel’s transactions were irregularities which involved an abnormally high amounts in his transactions as that was not the specifically part of their job. Thus, Kerviel able to use his knowledge of the company control procedures to hide his fake trades with his false documents and emails.