1. Explain the nature of the accounting fraud.

2. What are the pressures that lead executives and managers to
“cook the books?”

3. What is the boundary
between earnings smoothing or earnings management and fraudulent reporting?

4. Why were the actions
taken by WorldCom managers not detected earlier? What processes or systems
should be in place to prevent or detect quickly the types of actions that
occurred in WorldCom?

5. Were the external auditors and board of directors blameworthy in
this case? Why or why not?

6. Betty Vinson: victim or villain? Should criminal fraud charges
have been brought to her? How should employees react when ordered by their
employer to do something they do not believe in or feel uncomfortable doing?