The Economic Consequences of Accounting Fraud in Product Markets: Theory and a Case from the Us Telecommunications Industry (Worldcom)

36 Pages Posted: 6 Jun 2006

See all articles by Gil Sadka

Gil Sadka

University of Texas at Dallas

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: June 2006

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of accounting fraud on the product market. The model presented in this paper relies on the idea that a firm's financial statements and actions must be consistent with each other. If the firm is behaving fraudulently, insofar as its financial statements portray it as relatively efficient, the firm must act accordingly, i.e., increase its market share and/or reduce its prices. If the firm does not behave in keeping with its fraudulent financials, the market would be able to identify the fraud. As such, the manager will take actions and make pricing decisions which are not optimal. These actions can have a significant adverse effect on social welfare. This paper utilizes the WorldCom case to illustrate the implications of such fraudulent behavior and its economic significance in product markets.

Keywords: Accounting Fraud, Corporate Governance

JEL Classification: D18, D21, D43, G30, M41, M43

Suggested Citation

Sadka, Gil, The Economic Consequences of Accounting Fraud in Product Markets: Theory and a Case from the Us Telecommunications Industry (Worldcom) (June 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=906153 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.906153

Gil Sadka (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Dallas ( email )

2601 North Floyd Road
Richardson, TX 75083
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,154
Abstract Views
5,155
Rank
34,233
PlumX Metrics