Accounting for Anguish - Essay Example

I believe that one person can become a difference maker in situations in which a company is committing financial frauds and nobody in a firm wants todo anything about it. Often in companies that suffer from unethical behavior among its executive staff the managers collude with each other in order to keep the general public at bay of the illegal activity that is occurring. The accounting department is these cases serves as the last line of defense. Accountants are supposed to behave in an ethical manner and comply with the high ethical and moral standards stipulated by the generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

When fraudulent activity and misappropriation occurs in a company such what was occurring at WorldCom and an accountant discovers the scheme the only option for the accountant is to become a whistleblower. A whistleblower can be defined as a person that reveals any wrong doings or malpractices that are taking place within an organization (Bainbridge). When Kim Emigh acted as a whistleblower in the WorldCom scandal she revealed to the Security and Exchange Commission and other governmental agencies that WorldCom was attempting to change labor that was supposed to be part of capital projects into an expense in order to misguide the government and lower profits to pay less taxes.

The effect of the directive by WorldCom would have turned $35 million of capitalized items into expenses (Reaves). The courage of Kim Emigh was instrumental in bringing the WorldCom executives to justice and to uncover one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.Work Cited PageBainbridge, R. 8 January 2007. “Whistleblower Definition.” 25 September 2011. Reaves, G. 2011. “Accounting for Anguish.” Forth Worth Weekly. 25 September 2011.