COSO案例分析之世通的没落.doc

天和财务：
COSO案例分析之世通的没落
Case Study – WorldCom
来源：天和网
核心提示：世通是一家美国通讯公司，03年因其财务问题破产。本文就coso框架规则浅析世通破产原因。
The situation

天和网天和财务频道消息：概况
WorldCom is a telecommunications company which was lead by CEO, Bernard Ebbers, and CFO, Scott Sullivan.
世通是一个电信公司，首席执行官（CEO）为伯纳德•埃伯斯，首席财务官（CFO）为斯科特•苏利文。
In 1999, WorldCom was not meeting Wall Streets revenue and earnings expectant and it appeared that the coming year would produce more bad news.The CFO argued for setting realistic targets. However, the CEO insisted that the company needed double digit growth, and pushed for aggressive targets. These aggressive targets were not supported by historical data or strategic assessments.
1999年，世通就没有达到华尔街的预期收入及利润，并且看起来未来一年情况会更糟糕。CFO主张制定切实可行的措施。但是 CEO却坚持，公司需要实现两位数增长，并采取行动实现这个激进目标。但根据历史数据及战略评估，这样的激进目标是无法实现的。
In order to meet these targets, WorldCom began boosting its revenue through a wide range of accounting measures, including drawing down on reserves set aside for expenses. The economic situation at the time was not taken into account when implementing these aggressive accounting measures. Other similar companies were reporting declining revenues.
为了实现这些目标，世通开始通过各种会计措施提高收入，包括缩减预留以备支出。在实施这些激进措施时，世通并没有考虑当时的经济形势。其他类似的公司报告称其收入都有下降。
It was identified that the management who were making the aggressive accounting decisions, were also posting the journals to the general ledger, and reviewing and approving the reporting.
经证实，制定激进措施公司管理层每天也会将日记账粘贴到总账上，审查并批准报告。
Pressure was placed on personnel who did not support the aggressive targets.
压力较大的还是那些不支持激进措施的员工。
A great deal of focus was put on “team work” and being a strong “team player”, which is said to have been a strategy to reduce dissenting opinions, eventually leading the organisation to follow a “groupthink” attitude.
公司将重心放在“团队合作”上，培养强大的“团队精神”，据说这是为减少不同意见而实施的策略，最终使公司人人都具有去“群体思维”。
In 2000, the telecommunications industry entered a downturn and WorldComsaggressive growth strategy suffered a serious set back. However, due to the accounting measures used, by Q3 in 2000, the company managed to meet the Wall Street expectations.
2000年，电信行业进入低迷时期，世通的积极增长战略收到严重阻碍。然而，由于使用了会计手段，到2000年的第三季度，世通成功达到华尔街的预测目标。
Finally, WorldComs stock price started to plummet, and the CEO faced margin calls from his bankers, forcing him to either sell his shares or repay the loans. He did not want to sell his shares as his doing so would put further downward pressure on the stock price. Therefore, WorldCom directors lent the CEO US$400 million to meet the loans requirements.
然而，到最后，世通股票价格开始下跌，公司CEO面临银行保证金的追讨，并威胁要不卖掉股份，要么偿还贷款。他不想出售股票，因为那样会造成股票价格的继续下跌。因此,世通公司的董事借给CEO 4亿美元贷款,以满足需求。
Before the release of Q1 results, 2002, the companys revenue was declining, making the task of showing revenue growth through accounting manoeuvres nearly impossible.
在2002年第1季度报告发布之前，公司的收入下降，公司通过会计手段达到收入增长目标也几乎是不可能实现了。

The disastrous first quarter results were released, and the CEO, Bernard Ebbers, was asked to resign.

第一季度报告灾难性结果公布后，CEO伯纳德•埃伯斯被要求辞职。
What are the issues?
问题在哪？
Beginning modestly in mid-year 1999 and continuing at an accelerated pace through May 2002, the company (under the direction of Ebbers (CEO) and Sullivan (CFO)) used fraudulent accounting methods to mask its declining earnings by painting a false picture of financial growth and profitability to prop up the price of WorldComs stock.
从1999年中期开始，世通公司在CEO埃伯斯和CFO苏利文的指使下，通过虚假会计方法掩饰收入下降，绘制金融增长和盈利能力的虚假场景来支撑世通股票价格，这种情况在2002年5月后加剧。
The fraud was accomplished primarily in two ways:
财务欺诈主要通过两种途径完成：
Underreporting line costs (interconnection expenses with other telecommunication companies) by capitalizing these costs on the balance sheet rather than properly expensing them.
漏报线路成本（与其他电信公司的互联费用），将这些费用在资产负债表上显示为资本而不是开支。
Inflating revenues with bogus accounting entries from "corporate unallocated revenue accounts".
使用企业未分配收入账户的虚假会计条目来夸大收入。
The outcome
结果
Over the course of its operations, WorldCom has successfully acquired a total of 65companies, of which 11 were acquired between 1991 and 1997, and in that course has accumulated around $41 billion in debt. By the time it declared bankruptcy in 2002, the organization had a combined loss of $73.7 billion.
通过这种操作，世通公司成功收购了65家公司，其中有11家是在1991年到1997年收购的。这为世通公司积累了约410亿美元的债务。当它2002年宣布破产时，该公司总共亏损737亿美元。
In 2002, a small team of internal auditors at WorldCom worked together, often at night and in secret, to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud. Shortly thereafter, the companys audit committee and board of directors were notified of the fraud and acted swiftly: Sullivan was fired, Arthur Andersen withdrew its audit opinion for 2001, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) launched an investigation into these matters on June 26, 2002.
2002年，世通公司内部审计人员经常在夜间秘密开会，调查并发现38亿美元的诈骗。此后不久，公司审计委员会和董事会得知诈骗并迅速采取行动：沙利文被解雇，安达信撤回2001年的审计意见，美国证券交易会于2002年6月26日就这些问题展开调查。
By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the company's total assets had been inflated by around $11 billion.
到2003年底，据估计，该公司的总资产被夸大了将近110亿美元。

On July 21, 2002, WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.

2002年7月21日，世通公司申请破产保护。
Analysis
分析
Control environment
控制环境
Unrealistic growth targets (double digits) when expectations were low. Managements philosophy was to be aggressive.
尽管希望很小，还是制定不切实际的两位数增长计划。管理方法太过偏激。
Increased pressure on people who did not support the aggressive targets. The culture and atmosphere encouraged by aggressive targets led to dishonest, illegal and unethical activities.
对不支持激进目标的员工持续加压。激进目标所渲染的环境和气氛导致不诚实、非法和不道德行为。
A great deal of focus was put on “team work” and being a strong “team player”, which is said to have been a strategy to reduce dissenting opinions, eventually leading the organisation to follow a “groupthink” attitude.
将重心放在“团队合作”上，培养强大的“团队精神”，目的为减少不同意见而实施的策略，最终使公司人人都具有去“群体思维”。
Directors were allowed to loan $400m to WorldCom to meet loan requirements to cover up financial difficulties. The control environment allowed this unethical activity to happen.
董事们被允许贷款4亿美元，以满足世通的贷款需求，掩盖财务困难。而控制环境却允许这种不道德的活动发生。
Risk assessment

Inadequate assessment of internal and external factors, and objectives before setting aggressive targets.
在设定宏伟目标之前缺乏对内部和外部因素的充分评估。
Economic conditions were not considered when implementing aggressive accounting measures.
经济环境不允许情况下，采用激进的会计手段。

Control activities

控制活动
Poor segregation of duties:
职责分离
Reconciliation preparation and reviews
对账准备与审查
Journals preparation and reviews
日记账的准备与审查
Information and communication
信息与交流
WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebbers, and CFO, Scott Sullivan knowingly reportedinformation to their stakeholders, including employees and shareholders, that lacked support and integrity.
世通CEO埃伯斯和CFO沙利文故意将无根据和不完整信息报给他们的利益相关者，包括员工和股东。
They communicated false targets and outcomes to Wall Street to ensure the stock price of WorldCom continued to escalate and consequently decided to use a wide range of accounting measures to meet these targets.
他们将不现实的目标和结果上报华尔街，来保证世通股价的持续上涨，并决定使用会计手段实现目标。
Access to data entry and manipulation was not appropriately segregated.
访问数据条目和操作之间没有被适当分离。
Monitoring
监测
There is limited evidence to suggest appropriate review financial reporting controls were being reviewed independently.
没有足够的证据可以证明财务报告的审查是独立进行的。

There was a lack of stringent monitoring of the internal control system and therefore the quality of the controls around the posting of journal entries to the general ledger was not identified as a weak control.

内部控制缺乏严格的监控体系，所以没有识别出对日记账到总账的控制非常薄弱。
译者：王娜
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