Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Worldcom Enron Fraud Bankruptcy free essay sample

WorldCom Fraud Bankruptcy (21/07/2001); Assets: $107 billion Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) began in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. in 1983. The company name was changed to LDDS WorldCom in 1995, and later just WorldCom. The company’s growth under WorldCom was fueled primarily through acquisitions during the 1990s and reached its apex with the acquisition of MCI in 1998. WorldCom’s financial scandals and bankruptcy led that company to change its name in 2003 to MCI. The MCI name disappeared in January 2006 after the company was bought by Verizon. WorldCom’s bankruptcy filing in 2002 (21st July 2002) was the largest such filing in U. S. history. The WorldCom scandal is regarded as one of the worst corporate crimes in history, and several former executives involved in the fraud faced criminal charges for their involvement. Evidence shows that the accounting fraud was discovered as early as June 2001, when several former employees gave statements alleging instances of hiding bad debt, understating costs, and backdating contracts. We will write a custom essay sample on Worldcom Enron Fraud Bankruptcy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In 2002, a small team of internal auditors at WorldCom worked together, often at night and in secret, to investigate and unearth $3. billion in fraud and the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into these matters on June 26, 2002. By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the companys total assets had been inflated by around $11 billion. As a result, the SEC filed a civil fraud lawsuit against WorldCom and federal charges were filed against several executives. The fraud was accomplished primarily in two ways: 1. Underreporting ‘line costs’ (interconnection expenses with other telecommunication companies) by capitalizing these costs on the balance sheet rather than properly expensing them. . Inflating revenues with bogus accounting entries from corporate unallocated revenue accounts. Some of the high-ranking WorldCom executives and other employees who are implicated in the accounting fraud. Most notably, company founder and former CEO Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and former CFO Scott Sullivan received a five-year jail sentence, which would have been longer had he not pleaded guilty and testified against Ebbers. WorldCom, crushed by its $41 billion debt load, made its filing in the Southern District of New York. With $107 billion in assets. Under the bankruptcy reorganization agreement, the company paid $750 million to the SEC in cash and stock in the new MCI, which was intended to be paid to wronged investors. Enron Fraud Bankruptcy (12/02/2001); Assets: $65. 5 billion The Enron Corporation (former NYSE ticker symbol ENE) was one of the largest energy company based in Houston, Texas that sold electricity and natural gas. They were also involved in the distribution of energy and risk management and financial services to many people worldwide. Enron employed approximately 22,000 and was one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion in 2000. This company gained wealth due to its initiative marketing and endorsement of power and communications services and risk management offshoots. Fortune named Enron â€Å"America’s Most Innovative Company† for six consecutive years. The company became very successful and seemed indestructible. Everything seemed rosy until they filed for bankruptcy in 2001. At the end of 2001 it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained substantially by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known as the â€Å"Enron scandal†. With all this success and rapid expansion the company had to borrow money. This was in a bid to cover up their excess debts. The debts would have made the stock value dip and they could not take that chance. So they opted to hide their debts in ‘partner’ corporations. With this information under wraps Enron kept looking better because of their unethical and illegal accounting practices. They also began favoring potential large investors with insider information while ignoring the smaller investors. Other industry peers began questioning how the company made so much money time and again. While all this was going on the company’s CEO was secretly selling his stock. By October 2001, they could no longer hide the illegal practices in the company. They announced a loss of $ 638 million dollars. The stock price took a dive until it was worth nothing. Then came in the creditors claiming their debts be paid before the company shut its doors. Since they could not repay its debts, the company was forced to file for bankruptcy. Besides the financial department, the operations management department also had a role to play in the collapse. The company’s values and principles were not followed since most employees were in it to also get rich. The Enron scandal, revealed in October 2001, eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. In addition to being the largest bankruptcy reorganization in American history at that time, Enron undoubtedly is the biggest audit failure. On January 17, 2002 Enron fired Arthur Andersen as its auditor, citing its accounting advice and the destruction of documents. Enron was estimated to have about $23 billion in liabilities, both debt outstanding and guaranteed loans. Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase in particular appeared to have significant amounts to lose with Enron’s fall. Additionally, many of Enron’s major assets were pledged to lenders in order to secure loans, throwing into doubt what if anything unsecured creditors and eventually stockholders might receive in bankruptcy proceedings.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Weird Rules of Grammar That One Might Not Recognize

Weird Rules of Grammar That One Might Not Recognize Perfect Your Grammar: Weird Rules of Grammar that One Might Not recognize Whether you are that individual who prides himself or herself in good grammar, or a miserable writer of essays searching for a way to improve, this column will offer an introduction to some of the increased rules of grammar that are not usual and those that are important to acknowledge. The following are six common mistakes of grammar that are seen often, not only in essays of undergraduates, but also in publications written by experts like magazines, newspapers, and also best-selling books. Having said this, to follow are some unusual rules of grammar people may not know. That and Which This is a typical oversight that even proficient essayists routinely make. You may figure these two can be utilized reciprocally, yet youd not be right. That is a prohibitive pronoun, so its essential to the thing to which its alluding, for example, I dont confide in second-hand autos that arent almost new. So in this example, I confide in all second-hand vehicles that are about new. Which presents a relative condition that permits insignificant qualifiers, for example I just trust second-hand vehicles that are almost new, which originate from the Ford or Renault carport. So, while that confines, which is utilized to include more detail. Might and May Once more, the vast majority accepts these two words can be utilized conversely; however, there is an unobtrusive distinction in their significance. ‘May infers a plausibility, though might suggests unmistakably more vulnerability. For instance: I may fall over if I drink such wine suggests a decent shot of falling over, however I may begin singing once the karaoke starts infers it isnt so liable to occur. Less and Fewer This is a brilliant case of one of the sentence structure administers in article composing which is regularly broken. Fortunately, its an exceptionally basic one to recollect. Less is saved for speculative amounts, while few and less are held for things you can evaluate. For instance, the firm is less amusing to work for the time being we have less than five representatives. Effect and Affect This one isnt so much a case of an abnormal language structure rule, yet one you completely should know. Both of these words are incredibly normal, yet its stunning what number of individuals misunderstand them. Be that as it may, its, in reality, simple to separate between the two. Effect is quite often a thing, and affect is quite often an action word. So the effect of liquor can be harming depicts the outcome or result of drinking liquor. Affect is utilized to portray the impact or reason for an impression for example liquors influences can be harming. Impactful This doesnt fit into the section of odd syntax rules. Rather, its only a word that is not a word, brought up in the corporate wilderness. Kindly dont utilize it, regardless of how impactful you need to be. Utilizing Coma with Adjectives – Utilize commas to isolate arrange descriptors as in the accompanying: The unkempt, splendid man was constantly troubled. – Do not utilize commas to isolate aggregate descriptors: The long yellow vehicle orbited the manufacturing plant. – Do not utilize a comma when the modifier changes both the thing and alternate descriptive words adjusting it: The late entertaining and liberal Mr. Welby will be painfully missed. – Comma utilization with enlightening descriptive words can likewise be controlled by the class of descriptor, for example, age, estimate, shading, shape, material, source, and general. If different descriptive words from a similar class show up, separate them with a comma: The tragic, broken man fell into the rank, dinky lake.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Catholic Papacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Catholic Papacy - Essay Example Peter to be the rock on which the Church would be built and St. Peter was martyred in Rome and thus making Rome the very symbol where Catholicism was focussed. The first century saw St. Peter as the first pope and since then, the continued line of popes goes on unabated, some of them obscure, some unknown to history, some ineffective, some power hungry to the extent of shaming the princes and a few, real serene father figures. In the beginning, it was a period of fighting for religion, being condemned, and persecuted and even being killed. The spirit of Christianity and its doctrines were yet to be established as nothing much had been done in that direction during the short life span of Christ. To the followers, everything was new guesswork and there was a dire necessity of creating principles and doctrines, much needed for any organised religion. Most of the initial popes quietly melted into the pot of history without being mentioned much. We come to know that Miltiades (311 - 314) held an open Council in Rome's Lateran Palace and was instructed to do so by the Emperor himself thus marking the beginning of interaction between Church and State. This interaction created many problems in later centuries and brought more difficulties than good. Before the roman church attained prominence worship was told to be conducted in houses rather secretly dreading persecution against the new religion. Emperor Constantine established three very important churches in Rome, making it obvious that the royal accent is granted to Christianity, especially so, because of the cathedral, now St. John Lateran, next to the emperor's Lateran palace while the other two in honour of two martyrs, Peter and Paul. Leo the Great (440 - 461) was the first Pope to wield certain powers and had an undisturbed reign of 21 years and was an admired and very effective pope who could control heretics and lay down role regulations to his successors. Hen defined Catholic Orthodoxy in the form of Tome and said it was Jesus' wish that Pope had to control other bishops and this wish was passed on to St. Peter by Jesus through the 'Power of Keys'. This worked well and was accepted by the other bishops and Christianity came under one papal umbrella and was honoured under the dictum: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. What you forbid on earth shall be forbidden in heaven, and what you allow on earth shall be allowed in heaven." In 410 came the sack of Rome by Alaric and his Visigoths while Emperor Honorius and Pope Innocent I were at Ravenna. Buildings were not destroyed and Alaric was happy with the booty. Huns, Vandals and Visigoths continued to undermine the royal power and slowly the power diminished giving an opportunity to Ambrose in Milan to almost control the imperial authority. In 452, Attila the Hun was the biggest threat to Christianity and Papacy and Gaiseric the Vandal was not far behind. Leo had to take diplomatic steps to negotiate with both and to some extent achieving a deal, papacy has now clearly stepped into the political arena. Gregory the Great (590 - 604) was another milestone in the development of papal power and authority. In 592, he accepted the papal responsibility for Rome while facing Lombards and persuaded them by agreeing to pay an annual sum. "Rome's relations with the Lombards were