5-2 Presentation: Accounting Scandals

ACC 696 Module Five Presentation Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The last few decades have seen some of the worst accounting scandals in U.S. history. An audit partner in your firm has decided to make accounting scandals a focus of the next mandatory training session, as these public failures have resulted in diminished faith in the accounting profession and business leadership. They would like to ensure that the firm’s staff are educated on the risks of ethical violations and the long-term impacts they can have. They have asked each of the accounting associates to present a scandal and its impact at the next training session. Research a major accounting scandal of your choice; then, summarize the underlying ethical violations, magnitude of the breach, and impact of the scandal in a PowerPoint presentation for your accounting peers at the upcoming training session.

Directions

Use the article linked in the Supporting Materials section to choose a scandal and create a 9-slide presentation outlining the ethics violation and impacts. Be sure to include speaker notes for each slide to clearly articulate the information that should be presented.

Specifically, you must address the following rubric criteria:

1. Provide an overview of the company and business environment at the time of the breach.
2. Explain the underlying ethics violation. Include the following in your response:
   1. What accounting/ethical rule was violated?
   2. What was the motivation for the behavior?
   3. How was the violation discovered?
3. Discuss the magnitude of the breach, such as financial impact to investors or employees.
4. Describe repercussions to the company, those involved, and the accounting profession.
5. Explain the impact of the scandal on the accounting profession or the company’s industry. Consider the following in your response:
   1. Changes to regulations
   2. Impact on reputation
   3. Behavior changes
   4. Impact on company brand
6. Conclude with a summary of lessons learned that would be helpful for the firm.

What to Submit

To complete this presentation, you must submit the following:

PowerPoint Presentation

Your submission should include an 8-slide PowerPoint presentation including a title slide and citations made by completing the Module Five Presentation Template. Each slide should contain speaker notes. Sources should be cited according to APA style.

Supporting Materials

The following resource supports your work on this assignment:

Reading: The World’s Biggest Accounting Fraud Scandals Use this resource to select a scandal for your presentation.

Module Five Presentation Rubric

Criteria	Exemplary (100%)	Proficient (90%)	Needs Improvement (70%)	Not Evident (0%)	Value
Overview of the Company	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Provides an overview of the company and business environment at the time of the breach	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding details related to the overview of the company and business environment at the time of the breach	Does not attempt criterion	15
Underlying Ethics Violation	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Explains the underlying ethics violation	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding details related to the underlying ethics violation, including the accounting/ethical rule that was violated, the motivation for the behavior, or how the violation was discovered	Does not attempt criterion	15
Magnitude of the Breach	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Discusses the magnitude of the breach, such as financial impact to investors or employees	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; area for improvement may include adding details related to the magnitude of the breach, such as financial impact to investors or employees	Does not attempt criterion	15
Repercussions to the Company	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Describes repercussions to the company, those involved, and the accounting profession	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding details related to repercussions to the company, those involved, and the accounting profession	Does not attempt criterion	15
Impact of the Scandal	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Explains the impact of the scandal on the accounting profession or the company’s industry	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding details related to the impact of the scandal on the accounting profession or the company’s industry, including changes to regulations, impact on reputation, behavior changes, or impact on company brand	Does not attempt criterion	15
Lessons Learned	Exceeds proficiency in an exceptionally clear, insightful, or sophisticated manner	Concludes with a summary of lessons learned that would be helpful for the firm	Shows progress toward proficiency, but with errors or omissions; areas for improvement may include adding details related to a summary of lessons learned that would be helpful for the firm	Does not attempt criterion	15
Clear Communication	Exceeds proficiency with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understanding	Consistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audience	Shows progress towards proficiency, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understanding	Shows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication	5
Citations and Attributions	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with few or no minor errors	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with consistent minor errors	Uses citations for ideas requiring attribution, with major errors	Does not use citations for ideas requiring attribution	5
Total: