Accounting homework help
Accounting homework help. I. Project Title: Ponzi Scheme
II. Introduction
You are a relatively new journalist at an accounting publication: The Journal of Strategic
Fraud Warriors, which is headquartered in New York City. The target market for Fraud
Warriors includes academics, professional fraud examiners, accounting practitioners,
attorneys, financial managers, government regulators, and other highly educated
professionals. The journal is sold in high end bookstores, university bookstores, and on
Websites of various professional organizations.
In your sixth week of employment, your boss assigned you to write an article on the
fallout from the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. He expects your final article to be
approximately 15 to 20 pages. Since the article will appear in a peer reviewed journal,
APA style and formatting must be used. The boss explicitly stated, he expects a
minimum of 15 pages of content, excluding the cover page, abstract, table of contents,
and references. Bulleted lists are disallowed. APA uses double spacing with no extra
white space between items, etc.
You’re super excited to be selected as the author knowing that your article will likely
attract many readers from prestigious institutions. Before jumping into writing you
decide to read more about the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
III. Steps to completion
Step 1: Read the Bernie Madoff article mentioned below. This can also be found in
LEO under Course Deliverable Requirements and in Week 6.
• Read: Case Study, Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme: Reliable Returns from a
Trustworthy Financial Advisor by Denis Collins.
• Optional and for your interest only:
o Search the Web for:
▪ Bernie Madoff movies and/or the mini-series
▪ Book, pdf, and movie: No One Would Listen, by Harry Markopolis
Step 2: Use the following question(s) as a launching pad for further research.
• Required Questions to be addressed include:
o Taking into account the laws and regulations passed since Madoff’s
fraud, how likely would it be for a similar perpetrator to get away with a
$65 billion Ponzi scheme? Why?
o Discuss the use of data visualization techniques that could have
detected Madoff’s Ponzi scheme earlier. Cite from scholarly (peer
reviewed) journals only. When using the UMUC library, One Search,
click Scholarly journals only to retrieve articles from peer reviewed
journals.
o Using Cressey’s fraud triangle, discuss how Bernie and his coconspirators rationalized the fraud given that they were all very wealthy
before their involvement in the scheme.
o What losses, both financial and nonfinancial, could have been avoided
(reduced or eliminated) if the SEC had listened to Harry Markopolis the
first time he informed them of his suspicions?
o Charles Ponzi’s fraudulent scheme began in the early 1900s. He was
imprisoned multiple times, escaped prisons multiple times, and died in
the charity ward of a Rio de Janeiro hospital in 1949.
▪ In what ways were Madoff’s Ponzi scheme similar to and
different from Mr. Ponzi’s Ponzi scheme?
▪ Bernie Madoff committed a Ponzi scheme a century later than
the original Mr. Ponzi. How has the accounting profession failed
to create GAAP and the requisite internal controls to protect the
public?
▪ What measures have the accounting profession and federal
government agencies implemented to thwart similar financial
schemes like Madoff’s Ponzi scheme?
• Optional questions for your consideration:
o To what extent would it have been considered fraud, if Madoff’s sons
granted their father’s wish to stay quiet for one-week while he disbursed
remaining funds to family and friends?
o How would you have investigated further before investing money with
Madoff?
o At what point do you think Madoff should have been caught?
o What role did the SEC play in allowing Madoff to perpetuate his fraud?
o In general, why do people ignore red flags?
o How could savvy investors ignore the red flags?
o Why didn’t sophisticated investors perform due diligence before investing
large sums of money with Madoff?
o Bernie is now in jail but what happened to his co-conspirators?
o Who were some of the unwitting victims in this crime? What types of
restitutions have been made?
Step 3: Submit your draft document to the Graduate Writing Center two weeks before it
is due. Use their feedback to improve your final submission.
Step 4: Upload the original document you submitted to the Writing Center, the
Feedback you received from the Writing Center, and your improved final document to
your assignment folder.
IV. Deliverables
• Original document you submitted to the Writing Center.
• Feedback you received from the Writing Center.
• Final version that incorporates the feedback you received from the Writing
Center.
o 15-20 page article in APA style suitable for publication in The Journal of
Strategic Fraud Warriors
o Requires a minimum of 15 pages of content, excluding the cover page,
abstract, table of contents and references. Also, bullets are disallowed.
APA uses double spacing only. Do not add white space between items,
etc. Refer to your APA resources as there are many formatting
requirements needed.
Guidance to enhance your final deliverables:
▪ Read the rubric before beginning to prepare the deliverables.
▪ Review the Turnitin resources in Content/Course Resources/Academic Integrity
& Turnitin.
▪ Re-read the grading rubric before submitting your final project to ensure you
have met all of the requirements of this project.
▪ Ask your boss (professor) questions as needed.
▪ Review and refresh your understanding of APA Style formatting
▪ Submit your draft documents to Graduate Writing Tutors at least 1 week before
the project due date. This free resource can be accessed in your LEO
classroom. Make edits to your deliverables after reviewing feedback from the
writing center tutors.
▪ If relevant, review the Departmental Late Policy, which is in syllabus. Note: no
assignments are accepted after the last day of class.
V. Rubrics
Group Case and Final Project Rubric
Criteria
Exceeds
Performance
Expectations
18 to 20%
Meets
Performance
Expectations
16 to 17.99%
Does Not Meet
Performance
Expectations
0 to 15.99%
Identification of the
Strategic
Issue/Challenge/
Problem
Correctly identifies
& provides
accurate &
detailed
descriptions of the
most relevant &
serious issues,
challenges, and/or
problems facing
the company.
Shows superior
knowledge of the
company’s current
financial situation
& strategic issues.
Provides a
focused diagnosis
of the issue(s) &
justifies that
diagnosis using
evidence
presented in the
case.
Correctly identifies
& provides
accurate & detailed
descriptions for
some of the most
relevant & serious
issues, challenges,
and/or problems
facing the
company. Shows
above average
knowledge of the
company’s current
financial situation
& strategic issues.
Provides a focused
diagnosis of some
of the issue(s) &
justifies that
diagnosis using
some evidence
presented in the
case.
Does not correctly identify
& provide accurate &
detailed descriptions for
most of the most relevant
& serious issues,
challenges, and/or
problems facing the
company. Shows below
average knowledge of the
company’s current
financial situation &
strategic issues. Does not
provides a focused
diagnosis of some of the
issue(s) & does not
justifies that diagnosis
using evidence presented
in the case. Or, did not
submit.
Analysis of Case
Specifics
Does not waste
space reiterating
information
provided in the
case. Chooses
relevant facts &
figures for the
analysis, and
excludes
irrelevant,
immaterial, &
extraneous
information.
Examines
financial and nonWastes some
space reiterating
information
presented in the
case. Chooses
some of the
relevant facts &
figures for the
analysis, and
excludes some of
the irrelevant,
immaterial, and
extraneous
information.
Examines financial
Wastes a significant
amount of space
reiterating information
presented in the case.
Chooses only a few
relevant facts & figures for
the analysis, and includes
irrelevant, immaterial, and
extraneous information.
Examines financial and
non-financial data,
but does not performs
sufficient data analysis to
determine and evaluate
financial data,
performs data
analysis, and
evaluates
alternatives.
and nonfinancial data, but
does not performs
sufficient data
analysis to
determine and
evaluate
alternatives.
alternatives. Or, did not
submit.
Conclusions &
Recommendations
Develops effective
recommendations,
solutions, and/or
action plans that
specifically solve
the strategic
issues,
challenges, and/or
problems
identified as the
organization’s
most relevant &
serious. Supports
recommendation
with convincing
evidence.
Develops some
effective
recommendation(s)
solutions, and/or
action plans that
specifically solve
the strategic
issues, challenges,
and/or problems
identified as the
organization’s most
relevant & serious.
Supports
recommendation(s)
with insufficient
and unconvincing
evidence.
Develops only a few
effective
recommendation(s)
solutions, and/or action
plans that only tangentially
address the strategic
issues, challenges, and/or
problems identified as the
organization’s most
relevant & serious. Does
not support
recommendation(s)
with convincing evidence.
Or, did not submit.
Writing Competencies
Clear, correct, and
concise use of
English grammar
with no spelling or
punctuation
errors. Employs
professional
writing without
colloquial
language.
Organization is
easy to follow and
congruent with
graduate level
writing skills.
Clear, correct, and
concise use of
English grammar
with some spelling
and/or punctuation
errors. Employs
professional writing
with some
colloquial
language.
Organization is not
easy to follow but
the submission is
written at the
graduate level.
Confusing, incorrect, and
or wordy use of English
grammar with many
spelling and or
punctuation errors.
Employs unprofessional
writing with a significant
amount of colloquial
language. Organization is
not easy to follow and the
submission is not written
at the graduate level. Or
did not submit.
APA Style
Includes sufficient
credible sources
from peer
reviewed journals,
academic, and/or
Includes some
credible sources
from peer reviewed
journals,
academic, and/or
Includes few credible
sources from peer
reviewed journals,
academic, and/or
professional resources.
professional
resources. All
sources are cited
per APA style,
including properly
cited in-text
citations. The
reference list is
complete and
accurate.
Wikipedia,
Investopedia, and
other nonacademic
resources were
not used.
professional
resources. Some
of the sources are
cited per APA
style, including
properly cited intext citations. The
reference list is
complete and
mostly accurate.
Wikipedia,
Investopedia, and
other nonacademic
resources were not
used.
Many sources are not
cited or incorrectly
cited per APA style,
including properly cited intext citations. The
reference list is incomplete
and inaccurate. Wikipedia,
Investopedia, and other
non-academic resources
were used. Or, did not
submit.
Overall Score
Exceeds
Performance
Expectation
90 to 100%
Meets
Performance
Expectation
80 to 89.99%
Does Not Meet
Performance Expectation
0 to 79.99%