Cynthia Cooper (accountant)
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Cynthia F. Cooper (born July, 1964 to Gene Ferrell and the former Patsy Lee) is an internal auditor and consultant best known for being the whistleblower who exposed massive accounting fraud at WorldCom in 2002.[1][2][3]
A native of Clinton, Mississippi, Cooper worked as the Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom. After conducting a thorough investigation in secret, she informed the audit committee of WorldCom's board that the company had covered up $3.8 billion in losses through phony bookkeeping. At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history.
Cooper previously worked for the Atlanta offices of public accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche. She earned her Bachelor of Science in accounting from Mississippi State University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Alabama. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Georgia, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).[2]
Cooper was named one of three "People of the Year" by Time magazine in 2002.[4]
She maintains an office in Brandon, Mississippi. She married Lance Cooper in 1993; they have two children Stephanie, and Anna Katherine.[2][1]
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[edit] Public speaker and author
Cooper has transformed her experience with WorldCom into a career as a public speaker and author. Ms. Cooper is associated with the Nationwide Speakers Bureau, Inc. and receives up to $25,000 dollars per appearance.[5] Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower,[6] was published in 2008.
[edit] See also
- MCI WorldCom
- Eugene Morse "the single most important individual in the discovery of the scheme at WorldCom"
- Bernard Ebbers, former WorldCom CEO
- Scott Sullivan, former WorldCom CFO
- Public Concern at Work[1]
- page 25 http://www.worldcomlitigation.com/courtdox/2005-09-21CoteOpApprovSetts.pdf
- For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2001, WorldCom Cash flows from investing activities, http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/723527/000100547701502009/d01-35105.txt
- WorldCom Internal Audit, Capital Expenditures Review, Final, January 2002
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Ripley, Amanda (2002-12-30). "The Night Detective", Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "There really is a corporate-governance revolution across the country. Internal-audit departments are going to be taken more seriously..."
- ^ a b c (2008) Cynthia F. Cooper, Marquis Who's Who, Reproduced in Biography Resource Center (fee), Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
- ^ Cooper, Cynthia. Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p. 13. ISBN 978-0-470-12429. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
- ^ LACAYO, RICHARD; AMANDA RIPLEY (2002-12-30). "Persons Of The Year", Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "There have been times that I could not stop crying."
- ^ "[http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speaker/97/cynthia-cooper/worldcom-whistle-blower CYNTHIA COOPER WORLDCOM WHISTLE BLOWER]". Retrieved on May 02, 2008.
- ^ "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower". Retrieved on May 02, 2008.
[edit] References
- Cooper, Cynthia Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower (2008) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-12429-1
- Colvin, Geoffrey (2002-08-12). "Wonder Women of Whistleblowing", Fortune. Retrieved on 2008-04-05. "Faced with disturbing facts, Cooper did exactly what she was supposed to do."
- Barrier, Michael (2003-12). "One right path: Cynthia Cooper: MCI vice president of internal audit Cynthia Cooper believes that where ethics are concerned, you have to obey your conscience and accept the consequences - Interview", Internal Auditor. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "There was only one right path to take, and I would take it again."
- "Cynthia Cooper: WorldCom". Public Concern at Work (PCaW) - Whistleblowers. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "The California public employees' retirement system, the largest state pension fund in the United States, lost $580 million it had invested in WorldCom." (Some facts don't match other sources.)
- Katz, David M.; Julia Homer (2008-02-01). "WorldCom Whistle-blower Cynthia Cooper", CFO Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "...there will always be fraud."
- Ripley, Amanda (2008-02-04). "Q&A: Whistle-Blower Cynthia Cooper", Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. "I really found myself at a crossroads where there was only one right path to take."
[edit] External links
"Cynthia Cooper chronicles her experience during the rise and fall of WorldCom in her book 'Extraordinary Circumstances.'"
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