A Whistleblower's story

Strategic Finance, May, 2008 by Karen L. Jett

I still clearly remember the first time I heard Cynthia Cooper speak. It was at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA[R]) 85th Annual Conference and Exposition in Chicago, Ill., on Monday, June 28, 2004. Cooper was the speaker at a general session, giving a presentation titled, "Our Responsibility in the New Era of Corporate Integrity."

It was early in the morning, and I sat in the second row, just feet from the stage. The ballroom slowly filled up to near capacity, with hundreds of people waiting to hear her speak. After her introduction, Cooper walked onto the dais with a stack of papers and stood in the single spotlight, just to the right of the lectern. After a moment of silence, she began in her quiet voice to tell the tale of her experiences at WorldCom.

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She spoke for more than an hour. As a speaker, she admittedly lacked the finesse of some of the more experienced presenters at the Conference. She paused at odd times, referred frequently to her notes, and rarely moved. Yet she was riveting.

As she spoke, I imagined what I might have done had I been in her shoes, and my compassion grew for a very private, regular person who had unexpectedly been thrust into the limelight--all because of a simple decision to do what she felt was the right thing.

I call it a simple decision, but it's obvious from her speech that morning and from her book, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower, that the decision was anything but.

In Extraordinary Circumstances, Cooper chronicles the rise and fall of WorldCom. At times, the story unfolds like a John Grisham novel. Cooper provides a comprehensive background of WorldCom and all of the company's key players, and, despite the key role she played in revealing the fraud, her objectivity is remarkable.

Not only is Cooper's book a good read, but it's also an excellent instructional tool for ethical business behavior. It shows how easily anyone can make one bad decision from which it is difficult to recover. At WorldCom, that one unremarkable moment was when the first illicit journal entries are booked to ensure the company meets market expectations. Cooper depicts the people involved in that moment as painfully real. Again, I felt myself wondering what I would have done in their shoes, asking myself, "Would I have made the entries?"

Cooper points out how the company's "cowboy" culture may have contributed to its downfall. Growing as quickly as it did, with top management's eye always on the next acquisition, WorldCom was awash in a myriad of systems with very few controls in place. Each acquisition, every high-level decision, was based on whether it would increase earnings per share.

Cooper also shares the challenges and emotions that she struggled with as she became a "whistleblower." Despite the loving support from her family and friends, she was left feeling isolated due to the uniqueness of her experiences. Her meeting in 2002 with other famous whistleblowers--Sherron Watkins from Enron and Coleen Rowley from the FBI--served as a key turning point. It helped her to move beyond the pain of her experience and realize that what happened to her could have happened to anyone, which motivated her to consider how sharing her story might help others.

Since leaving WorldCom in 2004, Cooper has devoted her time to sharing her story, especially with associations and students. In fact, I was privileged to hear her story a second time, and have a brief conversation with her, at a dinner meeting for the IMA Lehigh Valley Chapter in October 2005.

Cooper ends Extraordinary Circumstances by discussing the ethical implications of the events at WorldCom. She aptly points out, "We all face ethical choices and pressures daily: Give the money back to the cashier who gave too much change or keep it? Cheat on an exam or take it honestly? Fudge an expense report or tax return or file it truthfully? Keep our word or break a promise? The list is endless."

I agree with Cooper when she talks about the importance of educating people about recognizing ethical situations and about the importance of incorporating ethics into school curriculums. If you read nothing else in this book, flip to the Epilogue, titled "Shaping the Next Generation," and review the 10 tips she provides to help people "sort through tough issues and make the right choices."

Extraordinary Circumstances isn't a story of corporate greed, it's a story of human frailty. It asks, "How prepared are you to face extraordinary circumstances in your own life?"--Karen L. Jett, CMA, Jett Excellence, Kjett@JettExcellence.com