Companies That Were Caught Cooking The Books

Large companies from all over the world have committed fraud involving their customers and investors. Here are the companies that cook the books.

Cooking books does not address recipe collections – an expression that refers to companies that behave badly or act as frauds. More specifically, it is the time when companies engage in fraudulent activities to falsify their financial statements to show fake information. Examples of ways to do this:

recurring expenses
delay costs
Ponzi schemes
off-balance sheet items
accelerating revenues
to reduce retirement plan expenses incorrectly
hide maintenance costs for owned buildings

Although the majority of companies do not commit fraud, billions of people have disappeared from such criminal proceedings. Here are some of the worst cases of cooking books ever.

2019: Celadon Group

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, Celadon was one of the largest truckload carriers in America. They were accused of securities fraud in 2019 and were purposely alleged to have made false materials and statements to their investors. This also involved distorting the accounts and records of the value of their assets, showing figures inflated above the fair market value at the time. The charges were brought by the US Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, the FBI, and the US Postal Service.

According to NJToday.net, Celadon was struggling in 2016 as the truck industry started to slow down. The company also invested more trucks and tractors and owned many trucks that needed repair. Instead of reporting this information to investors, it incorrectly reported higher assets and profits to its investors. Celadon had to pay $ 42.2 million in December 2019 and applied for bankruptcy protection.

2011: Olympus

In 2011, international camera maker Olympus was charged with fraud. The company’s British CEO, Michael Woodford, started when he whistled for $ 1.7 billion in company purchases. Olympus was losing money from bad investments, and investigations revealed that the company management had suffered losses for about 13 years. A company consultant was sentenced to four years in prison, and the company’s previous president, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, and two executives were sentenced.

2008: Lehman Brothers

The Lehman Brothers scandal led to the largest US bankruptcy in history and deepened the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. It was maintained by Lehman Brothers executives and auditors of the company Ernst & Young. Lehman acquired mortgage lenders between 2003-2004, but began to hide loans as actual sales. This distortion showed that the company had a lot more money than them and was forced into devastating bankruptcy. The Securities and Exchange Commission could not judge any person for not having sufficient evidence. How do companies cook the books?,What does cooking the books mean?,How did WorldCom cook the books?,How can a company hide losses and other damaging information in financial statements?,How did Enron hide debt?,How do you know if a balance sheet is profitable?,What did WorldCom do wrong?,What laws did WorldCom violate?,What caused WorldCom’s failure?,Where did the phrase cook the books come from?,Is it illegal to cook the books?,Why do companies cook the books?,Is creative accounting legal?,What are the 4 basic financial statements?

2008: Bernie Madoff

This notorious scandal took place in 2008, when investor Bernie Madoff stole around $ 65 billion from investors. Wall Street investment company Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC tricked innocent customers with a big Ponzi scheme. Working with co-conspirators Frank DiPascalli and David Friehling, they were returning to investors who were company money and other investor money rather than profit. Madoff told one of his sons about the plan and the son whistled to the SEC. Madoff was quickly arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment (150 years) and compensation of $ 170 billion. DiPascalli and Friehling were also sentenced.

2001: Enron

Energy trader Enron’s 2001 scandal was one of the most famous in history, and was brainwashed by CEOs Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. They worked together to keep the company’s debts off balance sheets. This has increased stock prices, making people suspicious. An employee discovered the scam and became a whistleblower. This created a snowball effect, with shareholders losing $ 74 billion, investors and employees retirement accounts and many jobs. Lay passed away before he was sentenced to prison, but Skill took 24 years. Enron’s accounting company Arthur Andersen was also involved in the crime.

Moving Forward

All companies soften their numbers a bit to ensure a balanced budget, so it has been creative accounting since the first accountants started working. When bad judgment and greed come into play, managers can cross the line and enter the world of corporate fraud. These examples show some of the most notorious company accounting practices in history, and as a result, millions of people have been damaged.

Fortunately, today’s automated account payment procedures have been helpful in preventing such fraud by detecting faster. Still, investors are in control of their investments by searching for basic warning signs and communicating with companies that manage their money.