Krispy Cream

An implicit theme of this case that I want students to recognize is the contrast between the persistent and vigorous efforts of David Sokol to “get to the bottom” of the suspicious items he uncovered in JWP’s accounting records versus what Judge William Conner referred to as the “spinelessness” of JWP’s auditors. The JWP audits were similar to most problem audits in that the auditors encountered numerous red flags and questionable entries in the client’s accounting records but, for whatever reason, apparently failed to thoroughly investigate those items. On the other hand, Sokol refused to be deterred in his investigation of the troubling accounting issues that he discovered. The relationships that existed between members of JWP’s accounting staff and the Ernst & Young audit team apparently influenced the outcome of the JWP audits. Of course, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

The Enron and WorldCom scandals were arguably the incidents that permanently changed the procedures for accounting controls. In response to these incidents, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 was passed. Once the knowledge of these scandals was made public, a number of subsequent accounting scandals were discovered in public companies such as Tyco International, HealthSouth, and American Insurance Group. In addition, a then-employee-owned company, Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, Inc. (dba PBS&J, now known as “Atkins North America, Inc.”), was also hit by a similar accounting scandal. Henceforth, a case study of PBS&J is presented where we will examine the fraudulent transactions that

Krispy Kreme executives no longer rush to implement new plans before the time is right. They carefully study each geographical location to make sure its market will support a full-scale doughnut operation. Also, management spends time checking out sites for individual stores. Potential franchisee and employees are required to maintain certain standards and are thoroughly screened.

Although this practice was not fraudulent, the plaintiffs insisted that Campbell had a responsibility to record a reserve or allowance in anticipation of substantial customer returns likely to result from theses “sales.” Despite the fact that a large percentage of product sold under guaranteed sales contracts was returned, the company’s accounting staff apparently never recorded appropriate reserves for those sales returns. The plaintiffs charged that PwC must have known about Campbell’s bogus sales, but

This fraud seriously strained the relationship between McDonalds and Simon Marketing and the relationship dissolved as a result. McDonalds promptly fired Simon Marketing, with which it had a relationship for nearly 25 years. According to Greenburg “Given the duration of the alleged conspiracy, the lack of meaningful oversight and the magnitude of the losses, it was the only responsible course of action” (Bendavid & Harris, (2001), para. 23). The breakup wasn’t amicable as both McDonalds and Simon Marketing filed lawsuits and counter lawsuits against each other.

Krispy Kreme is a branded specialty retailer and manufacturer of premium quality doughnuts. Its principal business is to own and franchise Krispy Kreme doughnut stores in the U.S. and internationally. The main product is the Hot Original Glazed, a one-of-a-kind doughnut with an established brand. Each outlet also sells over 20 other varieties of doughnuts and coffee products. Product quality and consistency has provided the Company with a very loyal customer base.3

Previous to KPMG, Grant Thornton was Overstock’s auditor for an Interim period from March 2009 to November 2009. Based on the information published in the 8K, Overstock dismissed Grant Thornton due to a revision of a $785,000 asset that Grant Thornton wanted to amend in the company’s pervious 2009 quarterly filling and 2008 financial results. Overstock disagreed with Grant Thornton’s position, and unfortunately the timing of the situation could not have been worst considering the SEC filing deadline were approaching. Surprisingly, Grant Thornton retaliated Overstock’s comments affirming that they never took position as to whether Overstocks 2008 financial statements should be reinstated, since they did not issue an audit opinion for the 2008 financial. Furthermore, Grant Thornton clarified that they were engaged to review, not to audit, the company’s interim financial statements which consists primarily of performing analytical procedures

Many organizations have been in the news over the past few years due to accounting ethical breaches that have affected their customers, employees, and the general public. I searched the Internet to locate a story in the news that depicts an accounting ethical breach. I selected Krispy Kreme. I enjoy their hot donuts and was curious to learn more about how they played with the numbers. For some reason I always want to dig into the trickery behind the manipulation of financial statements.

The WMI accounting fraud case described a financial fraud committed by senior management of WMI, with the help of Arthur Andersen the external auditors. The case depicts the effort of several years to inflate profits at WMI, employing aggressive accounting practices which enabled the WMI to conceal $1.7 billion in form of expenses (Riley and Rezaee, 12). By eliminating or deferring expenses, WMI managed to meet earnings targets and improve

1. What can the historical income statements (case Exhibit 1) and balance sheets (case Exhibit 2) tell you about the financial health and current condition of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc.?

KRISPY KREME, one of the successful companies in the food-service industry, began as a single doughnut shop in the early 20ths. The rapid expansion of its business scale made the corporation suffer its first economic crisis by the early 1980s. A group of franchisees later took charge of the heavily-debt company bringing new management ideas which helped the KRISPY KREME find way back to the game and become the role model in the industry. KK generated revenues through four primary sources: on-premises retail sales, off-premises sales, product mix and

The balance sheet of Krispy Kreme looks very similar to the income statement. The majority of line items have experienced great growth. On the asset side of the balance sheet Krispy Kreme has eliminated their long-term investments and its tangible assets have increased from $0 to $176M. The increase of intangible assets was due to their aggressive accounting treatment for franchise acquisitions.

The Prefab Sprout Company is a construction company which develops and constructs modular home enclosures in South Florida. Though being listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), it is still a family-run business with about 40% of the shares resting with the Warner family. This working paper provides a thorough analysis of Prefab’s internal structure and its external business relations from an auditor’s viewpoint. In particular, the potential business and audit risks that could possibly evolve from an audit engagement are central to this study.

KKD's business model provides the company three sources of revenue: (1) Sales at company-owned stores; (2) Royalties from franchised stores and franchise fees from new stores; and (3) Sales of doughnut mixes, customized doughnut-making equipment, and coffees to franchised stores.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts was a successful privately owned business since 1937. In 1982 a group of franchises bought back the company from Beatrice Foods for $24 million, and reintroduced the old recipe of doughnuts and their “hot doughnuts now” system. In 1998 Scott Livengood became Krispy Kreme’s new