Case 2
A few years ago, there was a large oil refining company (based in New York) whose top executive was convicted of financial statement fraud. One of the issues in the case involved the way the company accounted for its oil inventories. In particular, the company would purchase crude oil from exploration companies and then process the oil into finished oil products, such as jet fuel, diesel fuel, and so forth. Because there was a ready market for these finished products, as soon as the company would purchase the crude oil, it would record its oil inventory at the selling prices of the finished products less the cost to refine the oil (instead of at cost). Although there was fraud in the case, this type of accounting was also questioned because it allowed the company to recognize profit before the actual sale (and even refining) of the oil. This method was even attested to by a large CPA firm. If you were the judge in this case, would you be critical of this accounting practice? Do you believe this "aggressive" accounting was a warning signal that fraud might be occurring?
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Fraud Examination
- . Read the following scenario and answer the questions that follow: Goldie PLC is a global company incorporated in the UK, that extracts valuable minerals from the earth. Mining is a risky business with a death toll averaging 100 deaths per annum in the UK. Goldie has recently had a coal mine collapse killing two men and trapping four others for three days. The accident made the national news and made Goldie well known. Goldie is financed by equity and has a large cash balance and no debt. It has come to the attention of the board that the future price of coal is forecast to fall, as renewable energy sources become more reliable. Required: For each of the following risks for Goldie PLC, identify the level/severity of risk and explain your classification. Financial risk Project risk Reputation riskarrow_forwardf In addition to the risk factor identified in the preceding question, another risk factor relating to misstatements arising from fraudulent financial reporting is: Multiple Choice Earnings this year are lower than management had hoped. Accounts payable are limited to commercial suppliers. Sales are made to residential, commercial, and governmental purchasers. The industry faces great technological changes in almost all of its products. Untitled docume...pdf Untitled docume....pdf docx Presentation se...pdf Untitled docume...pdf MacBook Airarrow_forwardEverybody knew Ed McAlister was a brilliant businessman. He had taken a small garbage collection company in Kentucky and built it up to be one of the largest and most profitable waste management companies in the Midwest. But when he was convicted of a massive financial fraud, what surprised everyone was how crude and simple the scheme was. To keep the earnings up and the stock prices soaring, he and his co-workers came up with an almost foolishly simple scheme: First, they doubled the useful lives of the dumpsters. That allowed them to cut depreciation expense in half. The following year, they simply increased the estimated salvage value of the dumpsters, allowing them to further reduce depreciation expense. With thousands of dumpsters spread over 14 states, these simple adjustments gave the company an enormous boost to the bottom line. When it all came tumbling down, McAlister had to sell everything he owned to pay for his legal costs and was left with nothing. Requirements If an…arrow_forward
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- Magna Steel Erectors, a Canadian manufacturer and exporter of steel components in bridge building has negotiated a deal with BridgeCon Inc., an American bridge construction firm. They have been doing business for several years and have used both Open Account and Letters of Credit. Recently BridgeCon has experienced some challenges in paying on time and maintaining its creditworthiness. Rumours are rampant about the potential for BridgeCon to encounter severe financial difficulty. As a result, Magna is worried about being paid for future shipments. In addition, Magna has recently lost several key engineers and project managers which has severely impacted their ability to perform key work and complete some recent projects on time and to the satisfaction of previous customers. Name and describe two types of Standby Letters of Credit that could address the concerns that Magna has about BridgeCon or that BridgeCon might have about Magnaarrow_forwardRobert Hamilton was hired six months ago as thecontroller of a small oil and gas exploration anddevelopment company, Gusher, Inc., headquarteredin Beaumont, Texas. Before working at Gusher,Hamilton was the controller of a larger petroleumcompany, Eureka Oil Company, based in Dallas. The joint interest billing and fixed asset accountingsystems of Gusher are outdated, and many processingproblems and errors have been occurring quitefrequently. Hamilton immediately recognized theseproblems and informed the president, Mr. Barton,that it was crucial to install a new system. Bartonconcurred and met with Hamilton and Sally Jeffries,the information systems (IS) senior manager. Bartoninstructed Jeffries to make the new system thatHamilton wished to have on top priority in herdepartment. Basically, he told Jeffries to deliver thesystem to meet Hamilton’s needs as soon as possible.Jeffries left the meeting…arrow_forwardStrivant Industries is a struggling company whose profits are dropping. Manager Jill Trainor is looking at the numbers on the annual report she is preparing to send out to investors. She takes a red pencil and strikes through several numbers, replacing them with figures that make Strivant seem more profitable than it really is. This is an example of Multiple Choice editing. auditing. embezzling. fraud.arrow_forward
- Pleasearrow_forwardConsider the following conversation between Leonard Bryner, president and manager of a firm engaged in job manufacturing, and Chuck Davis, certified management accountant, the firms controller. Leonard: Chuck, as you know, our firm has been losing market share over the past 3 years. We have been losing more and more bids, and I dont understand why. At first, I thought that other firms were undercutting simply to gain business, but after examining some of the public financial reports, I believe that they are making a reasonable rate of return. I am beginning to believe that our costs and costing methods are at fault. Chuck: I cant agree with that. We have good control over our costs. Like most firms in our industry, we use a normal job-costing system. I really dont see any significant waste in the plant. Leonard: After talking with some other managers at a recent industrial convention, Im not so sure that waste by itself is the issue. They talked about activity-based management, activity-based costing, and continuous improvement. They mentioned the use of something called activity drivers to assign overhead. They claimed that these new procedures can help to produce more efficiency in manufacturing, better control of overhead, and more accurate product costing. A big deal was made of eliminating activities that added no value. Maybe our bids are too high because these other firms have found ways to decrease their overhead costs and to increase the accuracy of their product costing. Chuck: I doubt it. For one thing, I dont see how we can increase product-costing accuracy. So many of our costs are indirect costs. Furthermore, everyone uses some measure of production activity to assign overhead costs. I imagine that what they are calling activity drivers is just some new buzzword for measures of production volume. Fads in costing come and go. I wouldnt worry about it. Ill bet that our problems with decreasing sales are temporary. You might recall that we experienced a similar problem about 12 years agoit was 2 years before it straightened out. Required: 1. Do you agree or disagree with Chuck Davis and the advice that he gave Leonard Bryner? Explain. 2. Was there anything wrong or unethical in the behavior that Chuck Davis displayed? Explain your reasoning. 3. Do you think that Chuck was well informedthat he was aware of the accounting implications of ABC and that he knew what was meant by cost drivers? Should he have been well informed? Review (in Chapter 1) the first category of the Statement of Ethical Professional Practice for management accountants. Do any of these standards apply in Chucks case?arrow_forwardCase Analysis 1. in 1982, XYZ cement company began its plant operation in Pampanga. Local residents were very happy because of the economic benefits they got from the plant especially the 400 local residents employed. After a few years of operation, Local Residents noticed the constant vibration and loud noise coming from the plant. Local residents filed a suit against the company asking the court to issue an injunction to close the plant. The residents claimed that the loud noise and the vibrations posed dangers to their health and damaged their property. The company was using the best available technology in their operation. The court refused to issue the injunction arguing that closing the plant would mean more harm than good to both parties. The court instead ruled that the company should pay the residents a one-time fee to compensate them for the damages done. The amount was computed based on the fair market price residents would receive if they were inclined and able to rent…arrow_forward
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