Ivar Kreuger Reborn: A Swedish/American Accounting Fraud Resurfaces in Italy and India

24 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2007

See all articles by Gaurav Kumar

Gaurav Kumar

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Dale L. Flesher

University of Mississippi - Patterson School of Accountancy

Tonya Flesher

University of Mississippi - Patterson School of Accountancy

Date Written: July 1, 2007

Abstract

Accounting fraud has been widely publicized in recent years, especially the large frauds perpetrated at U. S. companies such as Enron and WorldCom, but frauds are not country specific, and similar events have occurred in the past decade in many countries, including Italy and India. What is noticeable about the Italian Parmalat fraud and the Indian UTI fraud is their similarity to the Swedish/American fraud perpetrated for many years by Ivar Kreuger and uncovered in 1932. Although the Kreuger & Toll fraud was discovered following the suicide of Kreuger in March 1932, he, or at least his ideas about accounting and auditing, have been reborn in Italy and India. The Parmalat and UTI cases shared many similarities to that of Kreuger, particularly his view that audits and periodic reporting to shareholders were unnecessary. Whether talking about the Ivar Kreuger of 1932, the Indian UTI episode of the 1990s, or Parmalat of 2004, the story is the same; history repeats itself.

Keywords: Ivar Kreuger, Accounting Fraud, Parmalat, UTI

Suggested Citation

Kumar, Gaurav and Flesher, Dale L. and Flesher, Tonya, Ivar Kreuger Reborn: A Swedish/American Accounting Fraud Resurfaces in Italy and India (July 1, 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1025525 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1025525

Gaurav Kumar (Contact Author)

University of Arkansas at Little Rock ( email )

Little Rock, AR 72204
United States
501-569-3051 (Phone)
501-683-7021 (Fax)

Dale L. Flesher

University of Mississippi - Patterson School of Accountancy ( email )

School of Accountancy
200 Conner Hall
University, MS 38677
United States
+1 662 915-7623 (Phone)

Tonya Flesher

University of Mississippi - Patterson School of Accountancy ( email )

Patterson School of Accountancy
University of Mississippi P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
United States
662-915-5731 (Phone)

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