外文翻譯--會(huì)計(jì)欺詐和從近期的丑聞中得到的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和教訓(xùn)，是什么出了問題？

1、中文 3720 字，2068 單詞出處 出處: Bethany Mclean, Peter Elkind. Social Research: What Went Wrong? Accounting Fraud And Lessons From The Recent Scandals.No.4.2008.原文: What Went Wrong?Accounting Fraud And Lessons From The Recent Sca

2、ndalsCorporate fraud, bankruptcies, and various illegal acts have always been part of the business environment. Every time fiascos erupt there is a shock, but business history records dozens of major failures, frauds, an

3、d other measures of massive corruption each decade. The big ones often hit during recessions or periods of other economic problems, as expected. The high-risk firms are the most vulnerable to economic shocks. The recent

4、scandals are no exceptions. The most important scandals are the focus of this paper. Although the problems that exist are diverse, a few common characteristics stand out. The first is the obvious backdrop of corporate gr

5、eed. Presumably, senior executives expect to get away it. They also fit the financial-corporate culture described above. And earnings manipulation is part of (and usually central to) most of the scandals. Some of them us

6、ed brazen and unsophisticated approaches (such as WorldCom), while others used new, sophisticated devices to defraud (hke Enron). Determining the existence of criminal acts takes years. Two industries were particularly p

7、rominent in the scandals: the energy companies and telecommunications. Deregulation allowed the stodgy energy companies that carried out such basic operations as transmitting natural gas to become high-tech energy trader

8、s using sophisticated derivatives and structured-finance deals. The result was giant profits for the lenders. Continued big profits meant increasing risks and more complex deals. For Enron and others it also meant hiding

9、 the losses in controversial and often fi-audulent off-balance-sheet schemes. The telecommunications industry transformed from monopolist AT Enron had not any experience in any of these areas. Based on economic reality,

10、most of these new enterprises were not successful. Enron expanded into Enron Development to build power plants around the world and into Enron Broadband, timing the entrance into telecommunications just before the collap

11、se of that industry. Some projects were marginally profitable, other disasters, but the same SPE manipulations were used to set up complex deals so Enron could hide the losses and book nonexistent profits instead. Tradin

12、g profits increased with volatility and opportunities expanded when California deregulated energy. Enron used every trading trick to overcharge California buyers; giant electric utilities California Edison and Pacific Ga

13、s and Electric declared bankruptcy in 2001. Enron traders developed specific strategies such as Fat Boy, Death Star, Get Shorty, and Ricochet specifically to disrupt California power and increase electricity prices. Thes

14、e trading practices were improper and some (based on later litigation) proved to be illegal. Subprime Mortgage Loan Scandal The subprime loan area is related to the housing crisis of 2007, associated with huge drops in d

15、emand and price in key housing markets. Subprime loans are made to low-credit borrowers at higher interest rates, often with little or no down payment. When housing prices drop, the mortgagees soon have negative equity a

16、nd are likely to just walk away from the house. The mortgage holder is stuck with the loan and the property. The mortgages are packaged as structured debt (often called collateralized debt obligations or CDOs) and sold t

17、hrough special purpose entities (made infamous from the Enron scandal). The losses on these CDOs are the primary cause of the large bank write-offs. These losses are continuing, getting larger, and dragging down stock pr

18、ices especially for financials. As of mid-2008, financial write-downs of mortgage-backed securities are expected to total over $200 billion. As of April 2008, UBS had the dubious lead, with write-downs of $38.3 billion,

19、followed by Merrill Lynch at $25.1 billion, Citigroup at $21.7 billion, AIG at $17.2 billion, and Morgan Stanley, $13.1 billion. Many other banks also had multi-billion-dollar write-offs. Bank managers and others were ar

20、rested and charged with securities fraud in June 2008 and the FBI announced that some 300 real estate executives were charged with mortgage fraud (Hays, 2008). The subprime loan scandal is primarily an investment banking

21、 scandal rather than an accounting scandal. The subprime loan scandal seems a special case of a unique bubble, exacerbated by low interest rates and new structured financing instruments where controls were not well devel

22、oped. The evidence of fraud suggests that it occurred mainly at relatively low levels associated primarily with mortgage origination. The major problem is that the large banks and other institutional players badly misjud

23、ged the risks involved and actually increased risky behavior as an obvious housing bubble developed. At the corporate level, this suggests incompetence rather than fraudulent intent. Political Pressure As an S&P 500