Accounting Scandals - Notable Accounting Scandals

Notable Accounting Scandals

Company Year Audit Firm Country Notes
Lockheed Corporation 1976 United States
Nugan Hand Bank 1980 Australia
ZZZZ Best 1986 United States Ponzi scheme run by Barry Minkow
Barlow Clowes 1988 United Kingdom Gilts management service. £110 million missing
MiniScribe 1989 United States
Polly Peck 1990 United Kingdom
Bank of Credit and Commerce International 1991 United Kingdom
Phar-Mor 1992 Coopers & Lybrand United States mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and transportation of funds obtained by theft or fraud
Informix Corporation 1996 Ernst & Young United States
Sybase 1997 Ernst & Young United States
Cendant 1998 Ernst & Young United States
Waste Management, Inc. 1999 Arthur Andersen United States Financial mistatements
MicroStrategy 2000 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Michael Saylor
Unify Corporation 2000 Deloitte & Touche United States
Computer Associates 2000 KPMG United States Sanjay Kumar
Lernout & Hauspie 2000 KPMG Belgium Fictitious transactions in Korea and improper accounting methodologies elsewhere
Xerox 2000 KPMG United States Falsifying financial results
One.Tel 2001 Ernst & Young Australia
Enron 2001 Arthur Andersen United States Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay, Andrew Fastow
Swissair 2001 McKinsey & Company Switzerland
Adelphia 2002 Deloitte & Touche United States John Rigas
AOL 2002 Ernst & Young United States Inflated sales
Bristol-Myers Squibb 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Inflated revenues
CMS Energy 2002 Arthur Andersen United States Round trip trades
Duke Energy 2002 Deloitte & Touche United States Round trip trades
Dynegy 2002 Arthur Andersen United States Round trip trades
El Paso Corporation 2002 Deloitte & Touche United States Round trip trades
Freddie Mac 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Understated earnings
Global Crossing 2002 Arthur Andersen Bermuda Network capacity swaps to inflate revenues
Halliburton 2002 Arthur Andersen United States Improper booking of cost overruns
Homestore.com 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Improper booking of sales
ImClone Systems 2002 KPMG United States Samuel D. Waksal
Kmart 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Misleading accounting practices
Merck & Co. 2002 Pricewaterhouse Coopers United States Recorded co-payments that were not collected
Merrill Lynch 2002 Deloitte & Touche United States Conflict of interest
Mirant 2002 KPMG United States Overstated assets and liabilities
Nicor 2002 Arthur Andersen United States Overstated assets, understated liabilities
Peregrine Systems 2002 KPMG United States Overstated sales
Qwest Communications 2002 1999, 2000, 2001 Arthur Andersen 2002 October KPMG United States Inflated revenues
Reliant Energy 2002 Deloitte & Touche United States Round trip trades
Sunbeam 2002 Arthur Andersen United States
Tyco International 2002 PricewaterhouseCoopers Bermuda Improper accounting, Dennis Kozlowski
WorldCom 2002 Arthur Andersen United States Overstated cash flows, Bernard Ebbers
Royal Ahold 2003 Deloitte & Touche United States Inflating promotional allowances
Parmalat 2003 Grant Thornton SpA Italy Falsified accounting documents, Calisto Tanzi
HealthSouth Corporation 2003 Ernst & Young United States Richard M. Scrushy
Nortel 2003 Deloitte & Touche Canada Distributed ill advised corporate bonuses to top 43 managers
Chiquita Brands International 2004 Ernst & Young United States Illegal payments
AIG 2004 PricewaterhouseCoopers United States Accounting of structured financial deals
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC 2008 Friehling & Horowitz United States Massive Ponzi scheme.
Anglo Irish Bank 2008 Ernst & Young Ireland Anglo Irish Bank hidden loans controversy
Satyam Computer Services 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers India Falsified accounts
Lehman Brothers 2010 Ernst & Young United States Failure to disclose Repo 105 transactions to investors
Sino-Forest Corporation 2011 Ernst & Young Canada-China
Olympus Corporation 2011 Ernst & Young Japan tobashi using acquisitions
Autonomy Corporation 2012 Deloitte & Touche United States Subsidiary of HP.

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