MCI, Inc. was an American telecommunication corporation, currently a subsidiary of Verizon Communications, with its main office in Ashburn, Virginia. The corporation was formed originally as a result of the merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications corporations, and used the name MCI WorldCom, succeeded by WorldCom, before changing its name to the present version on April 12, 2003, as part of the corporation's ending of its bankruptcy status. The company traded on NASDAQ as WCOM (pre-bankruptcy) and MCIP (post-bankruptcy). The corporation was purchased by Verizon Communications with the deal finalizing on January 6, 2006, and is now identified as that company's Verizon Enterprise Solutions division with the local residential divisions being integrated slowly into local Verizon subsidiaries.
Ernst & Young is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, England, United Kingdom. EY is one of the largest professional services firms in the world. Over the recent years, as a firm, EY has shifted its historical business focus from traditional audit profile towards consulting. In particular, EY advanced its market presence in strategic consulting and entered into direct competition with what has been a traditional field of "Big Three" companies, namely Bain, McKinsey and BCG. By series of acquisitions and shift of market focus, EY expanded its market share in areas including operations services consulting, strategy services consulting, HR services consulting, financial services consulting & technology services consulting.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act" and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law that set new or expanded requirements for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies, such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
KPMG is a professional service company and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, United Kingdom. PwC ranks as the largest professional services firm in the world after Deloitte, and is one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal government of the United States.
An audit is a systematic and independent examination of books, accounts, statutory records, documents and vouchers of an organization to ascertain how far the financial statements as well as non-financial disclosures present a true and fair view of the concern. It also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditing has become such a ubiquitous phenomenon in the corporate and the public sector that academics started identifying an "Audit Society". The auditor perceives and recognises the propositions before them for examination, obtains evidence, evaluates the same and formulates an opinion on the basis of his judgement which is communicated through their audit report.
A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are international accounting standards, although auditors may conduct audits of financial statements prepared using the cash basis or some other basis of accounting appropriate for the organisation. In providing an opinion whether financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with accounting standards, the auditor gathers evidence to determine whether the statements contain material errors or other misstatements.
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited , commonly referred to as Deloitte, is a multinational professional services network. Deloitte is one of the "Big Four" accounting organizations and the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is a private-sector, nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 to oversee the audits of public companies and other issuers in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate and independent audit reports. The PCAOB also oversees the audits of broker-dealers, including compliance reports filed pursuant to federal securities laws, to promote investor protection. All PCAOB rules and standards must be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
BDO USA, LLP is the United States Member Firm of BDO International, a global accounting network. The company is headquartered in Chicago.
The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is an autonomous, nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy advocacy organization based in Washington, DC. It is affiliated with the American Institute of CPAs.
Gregory Reyes is an American businessman who most recently served as the chief executive officer (CEO) for Brocade Communications. He is the first person to have been convicted for fraudulent backdating of corporate stock options.
Auditor independence refers to the independence of the internal auditor or of the external auditor from parties that may have a financial interest in the business being audited. Independence requires integrity and an objective approach to the audit process. The concept requires the auditor to carry out his or her work freely and in an objective manner.
The Satyam Computer Services scandal was a corporate scandal affecting India-based company Satyam Computer Services in 2009, in which chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that the company's accounts had been falsified.
Accounting scandals are business scandals which arise from intentional manipulation of financial statements with the disclosure of financial misdeeds by trusted executives of corporations or governments. Such misdeeds typically involve complex methods for misusing or misdirecting funds, overstating revenues, understating expenses, overstating the value of corporate assets, or underreporting the existence of liabilities. It involves an employee, account, or corporation itself and is misleading to investors and shareholders.
Grant & Eisenhofer P.A. is a national law firm that focuses on securities and complex litigation, corporate governance, shareholder activism, false claims/whistleblower, antitrust, bankruptcy, consumer protection, intellectual property, complex pharmaceutical and medical device, birth injury litigation, and civil rights cases. G&E represents public and private institutional investors, whistleblowers, and consumers who seek restitution for damage caused by fraud, greed or mismanagement by corporations and major accounting firms.
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is an insolvent Malaysian strategic development company, wholly owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated). Since 2015, the company has been under heavy scrutiny for its suspicious money transactions and evidence pointing to money laundering, fraud, and theft. A lawsuit filed by United States Department of Justice (DOJ), alleged that at least US$3.5 billion has been stolen from Malaysia's 1MDB state-owned fund.
The Olympus scandal was precipitated on 14 October 2011 when British-born Michael Woodford was suddenly ousted as chief executive of international optical equipment manufacturer Olympus Corporation. He had been company president for six months, and two weeks prior had been promoted to chief executive officer, when he exposed "one of the biggest and longest-running loss-hiding arrangements in Japanese corporate history", according to The Wall Street Journal. Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, the board chairman, who had appointed Woodford to these positions, again assumed the title of CEO and president. The incident raised concern about the endurance of tobashi schemes, and the strength of corporate governance in Japan.
