THERANOS AND THE NEED FOR ASSURANCE SERVICES Brief Summary: Theranos was first incorporated in early...
Fantastic news! We've Found the answer you've been seeking!
Question:
Transcribed Image Text:
THERANOS AND THE NEED FOR ASSURANCE SERVICES Brief Summary: • Theranos was first incorporated in early 2004 by Elizabeth Holmes, with the purpose of developing and manufacturing a portable medical machine that could perform multiple laboratory tests from a drop of blood pricked from a patient's finger. . By 2013, Theranos secured a partnership with Walgreens and began to offer their product to the public. Theranos claimed their product could perform a full range of lab tests on finger stick samples. • Theranos began to unravel in October 2015 with the publication of John Carreyrou's Wall Street Journal article, "Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Testing Technology," revealing a multitude of problems with the medical machine, including that the product did not provide the range of tests promised and that the accuracy of the results were questionable. . By this time, wealthy private investors had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Theranos...none of whom requested audited financial statements of Theranos. • In December 2017 Theranos arranged to borrow $100 million from Fortress Investment Group LLC, the first creditor or investor to require an independent audit of the financial statements. • Theranos received a going concern opinion on their 2017 financial statements, therefore causing a breach of covenant with Fortress. This breach entitled Fortress to foreclose on the company's assets, therefore leading to the ultimate dissolution of Theranos, and several hundred million dollars of losses for investors. • On March 14, 2018, the SEC filed charges of fraud against Theranos, Holmes, and former COO Ramesh Balwani, alleging the company withheld from Walgreens the problems with their product and were using third party products to test some blood samples. Theranos and Holmes settled the charges; Holmes agreeing to pay a $500,000 penalty, releasing her voting control of Theranos, and being banned from an officer or director position with any public company for 10 years. • Criminal charges were filed against Holmes and Balwani alleging they defrauded investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and also defrauded doctors and patients. • Holmes and Balwani are currently awaiting trial. Holmes' trial has been delayed until July 2021 due to COVID-19, she is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, plus restitution, for each count Possible Topics for Initial Contribution: This case seems to highlight the importance of using reliable information for decision makin. How do assurance services help decision makers? How does the audit increase the reliability of financial statements? What other assurance services, aside from an audit, could have increased the reliability of the information provided by Theranos? The regulatory role of the SEC for non-issuer companies: What role does the SEC play in regulating issuer and non-issuer companies? • Auditor Skepticism: What do you think it was about Elizabeth Holmes that made so many people believe in her in spite of the fact that she dropped out of college and had relatively little experience in the field? How was she able to get so many people to follow her and back up her idea? How would these factors have impacted auditor skepticism and audit risk? • The SEC's complaint against Balwani describes the binder provided to potential investors. The package included a cover letter signed by Holmes, reports of clinical trials Theranos performed with pharmaceutical companies, and financial projections on spreadsheets created from scratch by Balwani. There were also lots of copies of glowing articles and profiles about Theranos. Materials within the binders stated that Theranos would break even by generating over $100 million in revenues in 2014. The unaudited financial statements Balwani/Holmes alleged created also projected Theranos would reach approximately $1 billion in revenue in 2015. Conspicuously absent from the package that went to investors are income statements, balance sheets and cash-flow statements audited and signed by a qualified public accounting firm. How do you think that sophisticated investors were lured into a situation without audited financial statements? Which of the management assertion's would Holmes have been unable to truthfully state? Conversely, which management assertations were almost certainly false in the fictitious financial information provided to potential investors? THERANOS AND THE NEED FOR ASSURANCE SERVICES Brief Summary: • Theranos was first incorporated in early 2004 by Elizabeth Holmes, with the purpose of developing and manufacturing a portable medical machine that could perform multiple laboratory tests from a drop of blood pricked from a patient's finger. . By 2013, Theranos secured a partnership with Walgreens and began to offer their product to the public. Theranos claimed their product could perform a full range of lab tests on finger stick samples. • Theranos began to unravel in October 2015 with the publication of John Carreyrou's Wall Street Journal article, "Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Testing Technology," revealing a multitude of problems with the medical machine, including that the product did not provide the range of tests promised and that the accuracy of the results were questionable. . By this time, wealthy private investors had invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Theranos...none of whom requested audited financial statements of Theranos. • In December 2017 Theranos arranged to borrow $100 million from Fortress Investment Group LLC, the first creditor or investor to require an independent audit of the financial statements. • Theranos received a going concern opinion on their 2017 financial statements, therefore causing a breach of covenant with Fortress. This breach entitled Fortress to foreclose on the company's assets, therefore leading to the ultimate dissolution of Theranos, and several hundred million dollars of losses for investors. • On March 14, 2018, the SEC filed charges of fraud against Theranos, Holmes, and former COO Ramesh Balwani, alleging the company withheld from Walgreens the problems with their product and were using third party products to test some blood samples. Theranos and Holmes settled the charges; Holmes agreeing to pay a $500,000 penalty, releasing her voting control of Theranos, and being banned from an officer or director position with any public company for 10 years. • Criminal charges were filed against Holmes and Balwani alleging they defrauded investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and also defrauded doctors and patients. • Holmes and Balwani are currently awaiting trial. Holmes' trial has been delayed until July 2021 due to COVID-19, she is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, plus restitution, for each count Possible Topics for Initial Contribution: This case seems to highlight the importance of using reliable information for decision makin. How do assurance services help decision makers? How does the audit increase the reliability of financial statements? What other assurance services, aside from an audit, could have increased the reliability of the information provided by Theranos? The regulatory role of the SEC for non-issuer companies: What role does the SEC play in regulating issuer and non-issuer companies? • Auditor Skepticism: What do you think it was about Elizabeth Holmes that made so many people believe in her in spite of the fact that she dropped out of college and had relatively little experience in the field? How was she able to get so many people to follow her and back up her idea? How would these factors have impacted auditor skepticism and audit risk? • The SEC's complaint against Balwani describes the binder provided to potential investors. The package included a cover letter signed by Holmes, reports of clinical trials Theranos performed with pharmaceutical companies, and financial projections on spreadsheets created from scratch by Balwani. There were also lots of copies of glowing articles and profiles about Theranos. Materials within the binders stated that Theranos would break even by generating over $100 million in revenues in 2014. The unaudited financial statements Balwani/Holmes alleged created also projected Theranos would reach approximately $1 billion in revenue in 2015. Conspicuously absent from the package that went to investors are income statements, balance sheets and cash-flow statements audited and signed by a qualified public accounting firm. How do you think that sophisticated investors were lured into a situation without audited financial statements? Which of the management assertion's would Holmes have been unable to truthfully state? Conversely, which management assertations were almost certainly false in the fictitious financial information provided to potential investors?
Expert Answer:
Answer rating: 100% (QA)
REQUIREMENT 1 Assurance services help decisionmakers by providing them with reliable information that has been independently verified This information can help decisionmakers make informed decisions a... View the full answer
Related Book For
Personal Finance Turning Money into Wealth
ISBN: 978-0133856439
7th edition
Authors: Arthur J. Keown
Posted Date:
Students also viewed these accounting questions
-
In a Wall Street Journal article titled Sparing Fliers Even Higher Airfares, Scott McCartney claims that jet fuel hedging by Southwest Airlines resulted in lower airfares for passengers on all...
-
In a Wall Street Journal article ("The Price You Pay for Water at the Airport," Scott McCartney, April 22, 2015), the cost of a bottle of water at various airports was compared to the cost of that...
-
The following quotation appeared in a Wall Street Journal article on the battle for market share in the automobile industry in 2000: "The huge fixed costs involved in developing new vehicles and...
-
Secondary xylem and phloem in dicot stem are produced by (a) Phellogen (b) Apical meristems (c) Axillary meristems (d) Vascular cambium
-
Consider the following set of ordered pairs: a. Calculate the correlation coefficient. b. Using = 0.05, perform a hypothesis test to determine if the population correlation coefficient is less than...
-
Throughout society there are various claims of behavioral differences between men and women on many different characteristics. You have been asked to conduct a comparative study of diet quality...
-
The BirthRate variable in the AllCountries dataset gives the birth rate per 1000 people for all the countries in the world. Use technology to create a histogram for this variable, and describe the...
-
St. Lukes Medical Center has a single operating room that is used by local physicians to perform surgical procedures. The cost of using the operating room is accumulated by each patient procedure and...
-
Analytics Corporation was organized on January 1, current year. At the end of the current year, the following financial data are available: Total revenues Total expenses (excluding income taxes) $...
-
Christy Albright and Dan Ralls formed the Charter Company on 11/30/2012, and chose a tax year ending on 11/30. Charter was formed to operate a restaurant (at 7848 Pesca Dr., San Francisco, CA 94123)...
-
Doyle Company issued $420,000 of 10-year, 8 percent bonds on January 1, Year 2. The bonds were issued at face value. Interest is payable in cash on December 31 of each year. Doyle immediately...
-
Two interesting and important topics concerning the SEC are the role it plays in the development of accounting principles and the impact it has had and will continue to have on the accounting...
-
The SEC is organized into several divisions and principal offices. The organization unit that reviews registration statements, annual reports, and proxy statements filed with the Commission is a. The...
-
On July 1, Mabel and Pierre formed a partnership, agreeing to share profits and losses in the ratio of 4:6, respectively. Mabel contributed a parcel of land that cost her $25,000. Pierre contributed...
-
Does the amount of money at risk affect the riskiness of an investment? Explain.
-
Are risk and return separate attributes of an investment? Explain.
-
EFL Ltd has 5000 shares outstanding, and the current stock price is Rs.200. The company is expected to pay a dividend of Rs.20 per share next year and therafter the dividend is expected to grow...
-
Pappa's Appliances uses the periodic inventory system. Details regarding the inventory of appliances at January 1, purchases invoices during the year, and the inventory count at December 31 are...
-
Jana just found out that she is going to receive an end-of-year bonus of $40,000. She is in the 35 percent marginal tax bracket. Calculate her income tax on this bonus. Now assume that instead of...
-
Credit card issuers often use credit bureau data to "preselect" consumers who will be sent marketing materials and application forms. Describe the profile of a consumer who might be sent an...
-
Describe the four steps in the estate planning process.
-
If you make multiple measurements of your height, you are likely to find that the results vary by nearly half an inch in either direction due to measurement error and actual variations in he ight....
-
Migrating geese tend to travel at approximately constant speed, flying in segments that are straight lines. A goose flies 32 km south, then turns to fly 20 km west. Afterward, how far is the goose...
-
Estimate the average speed, in m/s, with which the hair on your head grows. Make this estimate from your own experience noting, for instance, how often you cut your hair and how much you trim....
Study smarter with the SolutionInn App