Cynthia Cooper is an American accountant who formerly served as the
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
of
Internal Audit
Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to ...
at
WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
. In 2002, Cooper and her team of auditors worked together in secret and often at night to investigate and unearth $3.8 billion in fraud at WorldCom
which, at that time, was the
largest corporate fraud in U.S. history.
Cooper was named one of three "
People of the Year" by
''Time'' magazine in 2002.
Education
Cooper earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from
Mississippi State University and a Master of Science in Accountancy from the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
. She is a
Certified Fraud Examiner
The Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) is a credential awarded by the ''Association of Certified Fraud Examiners'' (ACFE) since 1989. The ACFE association is a provider of anti-fraud training and education. Founded in 1988 by Dr. Joseph T Wells. The A ...
(CFE).
Career
Cooper worked for the Atlanta offices of public accounting firms
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...
and
Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...
, and later became Vice President of Internal Audit at Worldcom.
Cooper stayed with MCI (previously Worldcom) for two years following the fraud. She and her team helped the company successfully emerge from bankruptcy.
Later career
Since leaving what became
MCI, Cooper started her own consulting firm to speak with both professionals and students sharing her experiences and lessons learned.
Writing
Cooper's book about her life and the WorldCom fraud, ''Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower'', was published in 2008. She has donated profits from her book to high schools and universities for ethics education.
Personal life
Cooper maintains an office in
Brandon, Mississippi
Brandon is a city in and the county seat of Rankin County, Mississippi, United States. It was incorporated on December 19, 1831. The population was 21,705 at the 2010 census. Brandon is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is l ...
. She married Lance Cooper in 1993; they have two children.
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][
]
Honours
Cooper was named one of three " People of the Year" by ''Time'' magazine in 2002, along with fellow whistleblowers Sherron Watkins
Sherron Watkins (born August 28, 1959) is an American former Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation. Watkins was called to testify before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate at the beginning of 200 ...
and Coleen Rowley
Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American former FBI special agent and whistleblower, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional dist ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
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External links
Cynthia Cooper website
Cynthia Cooper talks about her book, Extraordinary Circumstances
, C-SPAN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Cynthia
American accountants
American women accountants
Living people
Mississippi State University alumni
University of Alabama alumni
American whistleblowers
People from Clinton, Mississippi
Women in finance
Accounting scandals
Year of birth missing (living people)