Written by Noah A Darnell
Former MCI vice president and chief audit executive Cynthia Cooper took the stage Thursday night at Harding University’s Benson Auditorium as part of the American Studies Institute Distinguished Lecture Series.
Her treatise, which was chocked full of business rhetoric and financial jargon, did not end with a simple story of her experiences uncovering the WorldCom fraud, the largest single case of accounting fraud in U.S. history. Her presentation delved extensively into the ethics of the business world and everyday life. And in a format that is somewhat unusual for the ASI lecture series, she fielded questions to the audience and engaged them in short discussions numerous times during the 90 minutes she was on stage.
“What are some of the ethical dilemmas that someone might encounter in the workplace?” she asked as she opened her speech. At the end of the night, Cooper did not take questions from the audience, as ASI speakers typically do, but she did stay almost an hour afterward to sign copies of her new book “Extraordinary Circumstances.”
As an internal auditor with WorldCom, she explained the ins and outs of the situation and the story of fraud from someone on the inside. She spoke candidly on the affect of being labeled a “whistleblower” and the influence it had on her personal life.
“It was really good,” said accounting major Bethany Brown. “As an accounting major I though it was very informative, but I could see how to someone who isn’t an accounting major, it could be a little confusing at times.”
Most of the students in the audience were not yet in high school when the WorldCom fraud story unfolded. Nonetheless, mid-level math and science education major Ellen Erwin said Cooper’s presentation intrigued him.
“I don’t know very much about financial stuff,” she said, “but she was very impressive, very thorough. She would throw out a term and not assume everyone knew what it meant so she’d define it. […] And [I thought it] was very respectable for doing what she did.”
Though the jargon contained in the speech was geared toward the financial savvy in the audience, her message was not only about the WorldCom fiasco. Her speech was punctuated by ethical dilemma after dilemma and Cooper’s encouragement to “stay true to your beliefs even when it might cost you your job.”
ASI, the College of Business Administration and the College of Nursing sponsored Cooper’s speech.
