Financial Accounting, 9/e 2-59
CP2–8.
1. The most obvious parties harmed by the fraud at Ahold’s U.S. Foodservice, Inc.,
were the stockholders and creditors. Stockholders were purchasing shares of stock
that were inflated due to the fraud. Creditors were lending funds to the company
2. U.S. Foodservice set certain financial goals and tied the former executives’ bonuses
to meeting the goals. Adopting targets is a good tool for monitoring progress toward
goals and identifying problem areas, such as rising costs or sagging sales. Better
decision making can result by heading off potential problems before they grow too
large. However, setting unrealistic financial targets, especially in poor economic
times, can result in those responsible for meeting the targets circumventing
appropriate procedures and policies for their own benefit.
3. In many cases of fraudulent activity, auditors are named in lawsuits along with the
company. If the auditors are found to be negligent in performing their audit, then
FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ANALYSIS TEAM PROJECT
CP2–9.
The solution to this team project will depend on the companies and/or accounting
period selected for analysis.