Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at WorldCom. She had worked there for five years when the fraud was uncovered and received two promotions during that time. Vinson’s salary increased from $50,000 when she started to $80,000 in 2002. Vinson reported to Buford Yates, director of general accounting, who reported to David Myers, senior vice president, and controller, who then reported to CFO Scott Sullivan. (See Figure 1 for an organizational chart.) A hard worker who often stayed late or brought work home, Vinson considered herself lucky to land the job at WorldCom, as it was located in her hometown of Clinton, Miss. Vinson graduated from Mississippi College in 1978 and married her college sweetheart, Tom Vinson, a printing-equipment salesman who earned $40,000 a year. The couple had one daughter and lived a typical suburban lifestyle. Prior to working at WorldCom, Vinson worked as an accountant for various banking enterprises in Louisiana and Kansas City from 1978 to 1996. She also earned the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential during that time.

Problems began to emerge in the telecommunications industry in the late 1990s. The industry had over expanded, and every company was beginning to feel the effects, including WorldCom. By 2000, WorldCom’s expenses were increasing faster than revenues. In September 2000, WorldCom had to find $828 million to meet earnings targets expected by Wall Street. Vinson and her accounting colleagues found $50 million, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Senior management instructed her and her accounting coworkers to reduce reserve accounts for line costs to cover this shortfall. Reserves had been set aside based on estimates of potential losses, but they needed to have enough reason to reduce the reserve. Meeting earnings targets wasn’t a valid reason. Sullivan pressed Myers and Vinson’s boss, Yates, to make this adjustment. Yates told his accounting team that he had reservations, too, but that Sullivan promised this was a one-time adjustment. They all agreed to go along with the accounting adjustment. Vinson felt uncomfortable with this and considered resigning. The corporate accounting department’s discomfort with the entries prompted Sullivan to call the accountants into his office. He used an analogy that WorldCom was an aircraft carrier, and they needed to land the planes that were in the air. He urged them to wait until the planes had landed, and then they could leave the company if they still wanted to. Sullivan assured them that nothing they would do was illegal and that it wouldn’t be repeated. After talking to her husband, Vinson decided against resigning because of her family’s dependence on her salary and health insurance. In April 2001, the gap in meeting earnings targets was $771 million. The reserve pools weren’t large enough to cover this gap. Sullivan’s new strategy was to shift line costs, recorded as expenses, to capital expenditure accounts. Yates objected. Sullivan insisted it was the only way to cover this gap. Vinson and her coworker both felt cornered; this was clearly fraudulent accounting. The only choices now were to resign or make the entries. The three-person accounting team identified the capital accounts to use, and Vinson made the entries to transfer the $771 million. She backdated entries to February in the computer system and then indicated to colleagues at WorldCom that she was going to look for another job. These entries continued quarterly through April 2002. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) was informed of the problem in June 2002 as a result of the efforts of the WorldCom internal audit team. The SEC would ultimately charge CFO Scott Sullivan, Controller David Myers, and accountants Buford Yates, Troy Normand, and Betty Vinson. According to the SEC complaint: “At the direction of WorldCom senior management, Vinson and other WorldCom employees caused WorldCom to overstate materially its earnings in contravention of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for at least seven successive fiscal quarters, from as early as October 2000 through April 2002. Vinson knew or was reckless in not knowing, that these entries were made without supporting documentation, were not in conformity with GAAP, were not disclosed to the investing public, and were designed to allow WorldCom to appear to meet Wall Street analysts’ quarterly earnings estimates

Paraphrase one of Yates’ arguments?

This argument best describes the ____________________________________ “reason and rationalization” of GVV because?

In response to Mr. Yate’s argument, Betty and Troy could have countered?

If you can achieve significant abnormal returns then price changes are predictable, and the other way around (which means that if price changes are predictable, then you can achieve significant abnormal returns) (True or False)?

The permanent income theory of consumption predicts that saving responds less to permanent changes in income than temporary changes in income.

A detailed explanation would be very much appreciated! Thank you kind souls

The mid- to late 20th century was filled with amazing changes and events in professional nursing.

Select one of these changes or events, describe it, and explain how that change or event has impacted quality of nursing practice today.

History of China economy

Illustrated timeline of changes from the early days until today (should include as long as a period example as possible – 1930 to 2017). Include Important and highlighted changes over the years.

reflect on the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Discuss how they are co-dependant on each other and how one would be affected by changes in the other. Discuss how changes to either would affect living things.

Why might CPI not accurately measure real changes in the cost of living? (Discuss
substitution bias, introduction of new goods, changes in quality). Would CPI
overestimate or underestimate cost of living because of the bias?

comment at least 75 words.

The ways for aging adults to continue to utilize their cognitive function is for them to participate in actives such as Chess, Bridge, Crossword Puzzles or Computer Games. The benefits of participating in these types games is that it can help improve overall satisfaction of life and can enhance the memory function as the aging process continues. Participating in these actives can also reduce stress and anxiety as they can serve as an outlet for these types of emotions that are commonly experienced as people age. Physical act ivies including yoga, vigorous walking swimming and even household chores will improve the quality of life of someone who is beginning the ageing process. The benefits of these actives include increasing muscles mass, improving balance and bone density, helps reduce the chance of developing heart disease and high blood pressure. Social interaction is also and importance part of health aging. Remaining engaging with friends and family, participation in church events or age appropriate organize social groups can decrease mortality, reduce stress anxiety and depression and improve one’s overall quality of life.

34. Daniel is single and has the following income and expenses in 2017:

Salary income $60,000

Net rent income 6,000

Dividend income 3,500

Payment of alimony 12,000

Mortgage interest on residence 4,900

Property tax on residence 1,200

Contribution to traditional IRA 5,000

Contribution to United Church 2,100

Loss on the sale of real estates (held for investment) 2,000

Medical expenses 3,250

State income tax 300

Federal income tax 7,000

a. Calculate Daniel’s AGI.

b. Should Daniel itemize his deductions from AGI or take the standard deduction? Explain.

41. Nancy, the owner of a very successful hotel chain in the Southeast, is exploring the possibility of expanding the chain into a city in the Northeast. She incurs $35,000 of expenses associated with this investigation. Based on the regulatory environment for hotels in the city, she decides not to expand. During the year, she also investigates opening a restaurant that will be part of a national restaurant chain. Her expense for this are $53,000. The restaurant begins operations on September 1. Determine the amount that Nancy can deduct in the current year for investigating these two businesses.