Cynthia Cooper (accountant)

For the basketball player of the same name, see Cynthia Cooper.

Cynthia Cooper is a native of Clinton, Mississippi who formerly served as the Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together and often at night and in secret to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom.^[1][2][3] At the time, this was the largest incident of accounting fraud in U.S. history.

Since leaving MCI, Cooper has started her own consulting firm. In addition, Cooper speaks to professionals as well as high school and college students to share her experiences and lessons learned. Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud, Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower,^[4] was published in 2008. Profits from the book were given to universities for ethics education.^[5]

Cooper previously worked for the Atlanta offices of public accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Mississippi State University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Alabama. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Georgia, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).^[6] Cooper was named one of three "People of the Year" by Time magazine in 2002.^[7] She maintains an office in Brandon, Mississippi. She married Lance Cooper in 1993; they have two children Stephanie, and Anna Katherine.^[2][6]

Footnotes

1. ^ Pulliam, Susan; Deborah Soloman. "How Three Unlikely Sleuths Exposed Fraud at WorldCom: Firm's Own Employees Sniffed Out Cryptic Clues and Followed Hunches". Wall Street Journal. http://www.happinessonline.org/MoralCode/LiveWithTruth/p23.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Ripley, Amanda (2002-12-30). "The Night Detective". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003990,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
3. ^ Cooper, Cynthia. Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. ISBN 978-0-470-12429. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0470124296/ref=sib_dp_pt#. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 
4. ^ "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower". http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Circumstances-Journey-Corporate-Whistleblower/dp/0470124296/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209768944&sr=8-1. Retrieved May 2, 2008. 
5. ^ "CYNTHIA COOPER WORLDCOM WHISTLE BLOWER". http://www.nationwidespeakers.com/speaker/97/cynthia-cooper/worldcom-whistle-blower. Retrieved Nov 08 2008. 
6. ^ ^{a b} (fee) Cynthia F. Cooper, Marquis Who's Who, Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC?vrsn=149&OP=contains&locID=chan86036&srchtp=name&ca=2&c=1&AI=U20033944&NA=cooper%2C+cynthia&ste=13&tbst=prp&tab=2&docNum=K2020033944&bConts=2#sourceCitation. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 
7. ^ LACAYO, RICHARD; AMANDA RIPLEY (2002-12-30). "Persons Of The Year". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003998,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

References

• Pulliam, Susan; Deborah Soloman. "How Three Unlikely Sleuths Exposed Fraud at WorldCom: Firm's Own Employees Sniffed Out Cryptic Clues and Followed Hunches". Wall Street Journal. http://www.happinessonline.org/MoralCode/LiveWithTruth/p23.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-08. 

• Cooper, Cynthia Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower (2008) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-12429-1

• Colvin, Geoffrey (2002-08-12). "Wonder Women of Whistleblowing". Fortune. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2002/08/12/327047/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05. 

• "The Interview". Time. 2002-12-30. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1003994,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

• Barrier, Michael (2003-12). "One right path: Cynthia Cooper: MCI vice president of internal audit Cynthia Cooper believes that where ethics are concerned, you have to obey your conscience and accept the consequences - Interview". Internal Auditor. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4153/is_6_60/ai_111737943. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

• "Cynthia Cooper: WorldCom". Public Concern at Work (PCaW) - Whistleblowers. http://www.pcaw.co.uk/aboutus/whistleblowers.htm#ccooper. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

• Katz, David M.; Julia Homer (2008-02-01). "WorldCom Whistle-blower Cynthia Cooper". CFO Magazine. http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/10590507/c_10598910?f=insidecfo. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

• Ripley, Amanda (2008-02-04). "Q&A: Whistle-Blower Cynthia Cooper". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1709695,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06. 

External links

"Cynthia Cooper chronicles her experience during the rise and fall of WorldCom in her book 'Extraordinary Circumstances.'"

• Speech given at Army & Navy Club in Washington DC later shown on C-Span.

Cynthia Cooper website

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