Worldcomm Mess....

.....and more Arthur Anderson trashing. How can a company overstate something like, say, a profit by, say 3.8 billion dollars? Oh my god - can you imagine? The company line is that they have been taking expenses as profits.


Hmmmm. The doctor says good work Worldcomm! Excellent auditing Aurther A!


What a friggin' lying, cheating world we live in. Imagine 17,000 people now being laid off becuase Worldcomm's bottom line has been adjusted improperly. Adjusted shit! They out and out lied about it and Arthur Anderson certified their B.S. Methinks this is criminal. Me also thinks Arthur Anderson doesn't survive this - nor should they. Put them all in jail - Worldcomm execs, Enron execs, Arthur A execs. But 1st, we should take away all their money and worldly possessions and give it to the employees and stockholders. Bastards.

I'm a chemist by training, but am going to B school at night, trying to pull myself out of the dregs of the lab. Last night, my Finance professor (CPA, MBA, PhD) was late because he was being interviewed by the local TV station about the Worldcom mess.

I haven't read anything about it all, but he explained it in lay terms using this analogy:

Imagine if you take your car into the garage. are the repairs/work being done on it part of a normal maintainence, an immediate need repair, or something to improve the value of the car? depending on how you classify it, you'd account for it differently.

My professor stated that the accounting rules are pretty black and white on the surface, but that definitions and details within those rules are nebulous. Not that I would know, I fell asleep during my accounting class.

I do feel pretty bad for the employees, though. Don't know anyone who worked at Worldcom, but I have some friends who were collateral damage at AA from the first go-round.

.....but I never finished college in that go-round (circa early 1970's) - preferring to take a management job with a retail food chain [real bozo move I might add!]. However, I had a chance to go back to school when I got in with a new corporation and went back to college in my late 30s. Finally got my business degree 6 years ago, opening up a number of doors. Highly recommend your course of action! Stick with it and good luck!


PS - I can relate to falling asleep in class after a brutal day at work following a night with very little sleep. Hope you don't snore like I did /images/smile.gif

3.8 bill of expenses that should have been deducted before EBITDA were deducted after EBITDA. might seem trivial but WCOM got loans based on EBITDA. financing easier to come by with higher EBITDA. my amigo wildbill and me might debate more on this stuff on stock forum.