As a true crime buff, I especially enjoyed analyzing the fraud cases. I
am still amazed at the level of effort people exert to deceive. While
we have seen numerous cases that have been uncovered, I wonder
how many have not. I think we have hope that as with other
professions, most accountants are good and honest and only a small
percentage are not.
I learned during this course that we cannot assume that managers are
in leadership roles because they deserve to be there. As in the case
Monsanto Company Roundup. Leadership should have stayed up to
date about the competitors arriving in the market and made
adjustments to mitigate their inevitable market share loss. Once they
realized what had happened, they misstated their consolidated
earnings and violated SEC rules to save face, and their jobs.
Our first case study Eating Time was challenging for me. I put myself
in Kevin’s place as a new associate, wanting to impress the managers
but not yet knowing the culture of the firm. Deciding if doing the
right thing and reporting the ‘ghost ticking’ was going to be the right
thing to do according to Bo and Moe. What a daunting decision for an
inexperienced and eager young professional. I identified with Kevin
because I was in a comparable situation when I was relatively new in
my role, and it can cause sleepless nights.
