I was very pleased to be invited to a meeting with former MCI Worldcom internal auditor, Cynthia Cooper, sponsored by Accelerent. She is the employee who discovered and "blew the whistle" on the $11 billion financial fraud that, along with Enron, changed corporate governance in America. Unfortunately, similar frauds continue to be perpetrated. Her story, also told in Extraordinary Circumstances, illustrates an important principle of business integrity.

Business crimes are seldom committed by evil people searching for opportunities to lie, cheat, or steal. Most misdeeds, from pilfering pens and misusing the copier to billion dollar stock frauds, are carried-out by regular people who have rationalized small steps over the line. At MCI Worldcom, accountants reclassified some reserves into revenue because the CFO said, essentially, "Sales are obviously understated. We don't have time to find the mistakes before we meet with investors, so let's just make this 'adjusting entry' and sort it out later." Later, of course, other "adjustments" were made, the numbers got huge, the consequences dire, and,... Read the rest by clicking here. »

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Tony Mayo