Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at Worldcom, a leading telecommunications company in the United States in the early 2000s. The Worldcom scandal was a major discourse in 2002. It spanned through 1999 to 2002. The CEO and other Executives falsely presented the company’s earnings to keep the company’s reputation as a big and profitable company. Cynthia Cooper, the whistleblower was a staff member in the company’s internal audit unit. She discovered a $4billion balance sheet entry that was suspicious. She followed the suspicion and uncovered the largest accounting fraud known in 2002.
After a series of scandals between 2001 and 2002, five of Worldcom’s executives pleaded guilty to fraud and were facing varying sentences. The level of involvement of the executives was noteworthy. Betty Vinson was one of the five executives facing sentencing. Her role at the company put her in a position to report management activities, including misactions. However, while tons of fraud and unethical activities were going on in Worldcom, Betty neither participated nor reported to due authorities.
Betty’s scandal had a sentimental perspective. She claimed to have been pressured by her superiors to make false entries. Mr Ebbers, the CEO at the time, was held on a high pedestal and did not want to fall short of expectations. Betty said she was told to make those entries because Mr Ebbers did not want to disappoint Wall Street.
It is however noteworthy that Betty is a professional who not just owed her superiors quality work and performance, she also had an obligation of honesty to the customers, investors and the public. The right authorities deserved to know the atrocities that were going on at Worldcom. The damages done were irreversible and Betty’s position must be questioned. The company’s stock plummeted and investors lost money. Also, customers that trusted reports were misled to believe that Worldcom was more profitable than true. Against her, the prosecutor noted that Betty had put her own independent thought into how to fudge the numbers and she should be held responsible.
Betty also stated that one of her motivations was that she “felt like if I did not make the entries, I would not be working here”. She was scared of losing her job. Also, there was constant mention of her being a married woman and having a daughter. Her needs influenced her actions to not whistleblow the fraud going on in her workplace. This raises the question of responsibilities and needs. She overlooked her responsibilities to prioritize her personal needs. This decision cost her of her freedom and reputation.
Betty’s case raised questions around whistleblowing culture at work, how it should be done and things that can influence it. Betty being unable to report to her direct superiors might have made her position hard. Also, the constant reassurance by her superiors that everything was fine also misled her. While many believed that she was innocent, her silence did not automatically negate her being responsible. She had options to resign and/or whistleblow the activities to the public. Though inactive, her silence about the atrocities passed as an approval and she was held responsible for it. She served her prison time accordingly.
I WAS MY OWN VILLAGE PEOPLE