Extraordinary Circumstances
The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower
Published on 19. February 2008
416 pages
978-0-470-24673-3 (ISBN)
Description
The longer WorldCom Chief Audit Executive Cynthia Cooper stares atthe entries in front of her, the more sinister they seem. But theCFO is badgering her to delay her team's audit of the company'sbooks and directing others to block Cooper's efforts. Still,something in the pit of her stomach tells her to keep digging.Cooper takes readers behind the scenes on a riveting, real-timejourney as she and her team work at night and behind closed doorsto expose the largest fraud in corporate history. Whom can theytrust? Could she lose her job? Should she fear for her physicalsafety?
In Extraordinary Circumstances, she recounts for thefirst time her journey from her close family upbringing in a smallMississippi town, to working motherhood and corporate success, tothe pressures of becoming a whistleblower, to being named one ofTime's 2002 Persons of the Year. She also provides a rare insider'sglimpse into the spectacular rise and fall of WorldCom, a telecomtitan, the darling of Wall Street, and a Cinderella story forMississippi.
With remarkable candor, Cooper discusses her struggle toovercome these challenges, and how she has found healing throughsharing the lessons learned with the next generation. This bookreminds us all that ethical decision-making is not forged at thecrossroads of major events but starts in childhood, "decision bydecision and brick by brick."
At a time when corporate dishonesty is dominating publicattention, Extraordinary Circumstances makes it clear thatthe tone set at the top is critical to fostering an ethicalenvironment in the work-place. Provocative, moving, and intenselypersonal, Extraordinary Circumstances is a wake-up call tocorporate leaders and an intimate glimpse at a scandal that shookthe business world.
Reviews / Votes
"Extraordinary Circumstances details the struggle to get management to take internal audit seriously. The story of the investigation comes to life through Cynthia's words. I found myself drawn into the story. Congratulations, Cynthia, on a successful first book. And many thanks for being willing to stand up to the truth and fight to expose the WorldCom fraud." (bloggingstocks.com, 4/3/08) "Cooper's story is personal and interesting...it's a cautionary tale for corporate executives. The book is an interesting story of how Cooper ended up as a major player in a very important business story." (TexaxLawyer.com, 3/31/08) "Extraordinary Circumstances is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of an accounting fraud. It tells the story of how that fraud was uncovered and of the ugly manipulation and deceit she encountered along the way." (Bloomberg.com, 2/28/08) "...blow-by-blow detail is what makes Cooper's "Extraordinary Circumstances" well worth reading. Cooper's willingness to reveal her innermost thoughts as she dug makes for gripping reading." (BusinessWeek, February 25, 2008) "...with the publication of her new book, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of A Corporate Whistleblower, we finally get an inside account of what really happened at WorldCom. It's a powerful tale. Cooper's story has been partially told before, most notably in the Wall Street Journal and in a report prepared for WorldCom's board of directors. But her adventures at WorldCom come to life in this first-person account." (USA Today, February 15, 2008) "Readers of Cooper's book, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower, will find it easy to identify with both the employees who manipulated the telecommunications giant's financial statements and those who caught them." (Reuters.com, February 7, 2008) "...it's a fascinating study of the quantum changes in character that accompany the accumulation of unimaginable wealth as well as an uncomfortable reminder of how, faced with an ethical fork in the road, just how easy it is for some to take a wrong turn." (WebCPA.com, February 2008) "This is a heroic, often exciting tale of a person who, in the course of doing her job, stumbles on a big lie and pushes on to get to the bottom of it." (CFO.com; 1/25/08)More details
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04/2009
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Wiley
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02/2008
Wiley
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Person
CYNTHIA COOPER was one of Time's 2002 Persons of the Year. She was the vice president of internal audit for WorldCom and subsequently MCI.Cynthia was featured as one of twenty-five influential working mothers in Working Mother magazine, and earned the distinction of being the first womanto receive the AAA Accounting Exemplar Award and to be inducted into the AICPA Business &Industry Hall of Fame. She resigned from MCI in 2004, following thecompany's successful emergence from bankruptcy, and now shares the lessons she has learned through her experiences with professionals and students. She and herhusband Lance reside in Mississippi with their two daughters.
Content
Dedication vi
Introduction vii
Acknowledgments xi
CHAPTER 1 A Dark Cloud 1
CHAPTER 2 Graduation Day 12
CHAPTER 3 New Beginnings 26
CHAPTER 4 Hotlanta 41
CHAPTER 5 The Turnaround 50
CHAPTER 6 Coming Home 60
CHAPTER 7 Building A New Life 71
CHAPTER 8 King of the Resellers 82
CHAPTER 9 The Hottest Company in Town 91
CHAPTER 10 Nowhere to Go But Up 105
CHAPTER 11 A New Era 123
CHAPTER 12 The Glass Sieve 137
CHAPTER 13 The Tide Comes In 145
CHAPTER 14 The Minnow Swallows the Whale 151
CHAPTER 15 Finding Balance 163
CHAPTER 16 Top of the Mountain 167
CHAPTER 17 A Double-Edged Sword 174
CHAPTER 18 A Titan Stumbles 184
CHAPTER 19 The Rule of Ten 202
CHAPTER 20 What is Prepaid Capacity? 217
CHAPTER 21 Growing Suspicions 229
CHAPTER 22 A Surprise Visit 242
CHAPTER 23 The Confrontation 251
CHAPTER 24 A Desperate Search For Counsel 265
CHAPTER 25 Washington Attorneys Visit the Deep South 280
CHAPTER 26 Navigating the Storm 296
CHAPTER 27 A Visit to Federal Court 322
CHAPTER 28 The United States Versus Bernard J. Ebbers 338
CHAPTER 29 The Judgment 351
EPILOGUE 362
NOTES 368
INDEX 395
