Phar mor inventory

INTRODUCTION

In December 1995, the flamboyant entrepreneur, Michael “Mickey” Monus, formerly president and chief operating officer (COO) of the deep-discount retail chain Phar-Mor, Inc., was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison. Monus was convicted for the accounting fraud that inflated Phar-Mor’s shareholder equity by $500 million, resulted in over $1 billion in losses, and caused the bankruptcy of the twenty-eighth largest private company in the United States. The massive accounting fraud went largely undetected for nearly six years. Several members of top management confessed to, and were convicted of, financial-statement fraud. Former members of Phar-Mor management were collectively fined over $1 million, and two former Phar-Mor management employees received prison sentences. Phar-Mor’s management, as well as Phar-Mor creditors and investors, subsequently brought suit against Phar-Mor’s independent auditors, Coopers & Lybrand LLP (Coopers), alleging Coopers was reckless in performing its audits. At the time the suits were filed, Coopers faced claims in excess of $1 billion. Even though there were never allegations that the auditors knowingly participated in the Phar-Mor fraud, on February 14, 1996, a jury found Coopers liable under both state and federal laws. Ultimately, Coopers settled the claims for an undisclosed amount.

PHAR-MOR STORES 1

Between 1985 and 1992, Phar-Mor grew from 15 stores to 310 stores in 32 states, posting sales of more than $3 billion. By seemingly all standards, Phar-Mor was a rising star touted by some retail experts as the next Wal-Mart. In fact, Sam Walton once announced that the only company he feared at all in the expansion of Wal-Mart was Phar-Mor.

1 Unless otherwise noted, the facts and statements included in this case are based on actual trial transcripts.

The case was prepared by Mark S. Beasley, Ph.D. and Frank A. Buckless, Ph.D. of North Carolina State University and Steven M. Glover, Ph.D. and Douglas F. Prawitt, Ph.D. of Brigham Young University, as a basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.

Mickey Monus, Phar-Mor’s president, COO and founder, was a local hero in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio. As demonstration of his loyalty, Monus put Phar-Mor’s headquarters in a deserted department store in downtown Youngstown. Monus—known as shy and introverted to friends, cold and aloof to others—became quite flashy as Phar-Mor grew. Before the fall of his Phar-Mor empire, Monus was known for buying his friends expensive gifts and he was building an extravagant personal residence, complete with an indoor basketball court. He was also an initial equity investor in the Colorado Rockies major league baseball franchise. This affiliation with the Colorado Rockies and other high profile sporting events sponsored by Phar-Mor fed Monus’ love for the high life and fast action. He frequently flew to Las Vegas, where a suite was always available for him at Caesar’s Palace. Mickey would often impress his traveling companions by giving them thousands of dollars for gambling.

Phar-Mor was a deep-discount retail chain selling a variety of household products and prescription drugs at substantially lower prices than other discount stores. The key to the low prices was “power buying,” the phrase Monus used to describe his strategy of loading up on products when suppliers were offering rock-bottom prices. The strategy of deep-discount retailing is to beat competitors’ prices, thereby attracting cost-conscious consumers. Phar-Mor’s prices were so low that competitors wondered how Phar-Mor could turn a profit. Monus’ strategy was to undersell Wal-Mart in each market where the two retailers directly competed.

Unfortunately, Phar-Mor’s prices were so low that Phar-Mor began losing money. Unwilling to allow these shortfalls to damage Phar-Mor’s appearance of success, Monus and his team began to engage in creative accounting so that Phar-Mor never reported these losses in its financial statements. Federal fraud examiners discerned later that 1987 was the last year Phar-Mor actually made a profit.

Investors, relying upon these erroneous financial statements, saw Phar-Mor as an opportunity to cash in on the retailing craze. Among the big investors were Westinghouse Credit Corp., Sears Roebuck & Co., mall developer Edward J. de Bartolo, and the prestigious Lazard Freres & Co. Corporate Partners Investment Fund. Prosecutors say banks and investors put $1.14 billion into Phar-Mor based on the phony records.

The fraud was ultimately uncovered when a travel agent received a Phar-Mor check signed by Monus paying for expenses that were unrelated to Phar-Mor. The agent showed the check to her landlord, who happened to be a Phar-Mor investor, and he contacted Phar-Mor’s chief executive officer (CEO), David Shapira. On August 4, 1992, David Shapira announced to the business community that Phar-Mor had discovered a massive fraud perpetrated primarily by Michael Monus, former president and COO, and Patrick Finn, former chief financial officer (CFO). In order to hide Phar-Mor’s cash flow problems, attract investors, and make the company look profitable, Monus and Finn altered Phar-Mor’s accounting records to understate costs of goods sold and overstate inventory and income. In addition to the financial statement fraud, internal investigations by the company estimated an embezzlement in excess of $10 million.2

Phar-Mor’s executives had cooked the books, and the magnitude of the collusive management fraud was almost inconceivable. The fraud was carefully carried out over several years by persons at many organizational layers, including the president and COO, CFO, vice president of marketing, director of accounting, controller, and a host of others.

The following list outlines seven key factors contributing to the fraud and the ability to cover it up for so long.

2 Stern, Gabriella, “Phar-Mor Vendors Halt Deliveries; More Layoffs Made,” The Wall Street Journal, August 10, 1992.

[1] The lack of adequate management information systems (MIS). According to the federal fraud examiner’s report, Phar-Mor’s MIS was inadequate on many levels. At one point, a Phar-Mor vice president raised concerns about the company’s MIS and organized a committee to address the problem. However, senior officials involved in the scheme to defraud Phar-Mor dismissed the vice president’s concerns and ordered the committee disbanded.

[2] Poor internal controls. For example, Phar-Mor’s accounting department was able to bypass normal accounts payable controls by maintaining a supply of blank checks on two different bank accounts and by using them to make disbursements. Only those involved in the fraud were authorized to approve the use of these checks.

[3] The hands-off management style of David Shapira, CEO. For example, in at least two instances Shapira was made aware of potential problems with Monus’ behavior and Phar-Mor’s financial information. In both cases Shapira chose to distance himself from the knowledge.

[4] Inadequate internal audit function. Ironically, Michael Monus was appointed a member of the audit committee. When the internal auditor reported that he wanted to investigate certain payroll irregularities associated with some of the Phar-Mor related parties, Monus and CFO Finn forestalled these activities and then eliminated the internal audit function altogether.

[5] Collusion among upper management. At least six members of Phar-Mor’s upper management, as well as other employees in the accounting department, were involved in the fraud.

[6] Phar-Mor’s knowledge of audit procedures and objectives. Phar-Mor’s fraud team was made up of several former auditors, including at least one former auditor who had worked for Coopers on the Phar-Mor audit. The fraud team indicated that one reason they were successful in hiding the fraud from the auditors was because they knew what the auditors were looking for.

[7] Related parties. Coopers & Lybrand, in a countersuit, stated that Shapira and Monus set up a web of companies to do business with Phar-Mor. Coopers contended that the companies formed by Shapira and Monus received millions in payments from Phar-Mor. The federal fraud examiner’s report confirms Coopers’ allegations. The complexity of the related parties involved with Phar-Mor made detection of improprieties and fraudulent activity difficult. During its investigation, the federal fraud examiner identified 91 related parties.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST COOPERS

Attorneys representing creditors and investors pointed out that every year from 1987 to 1992, Coopers & Lybrand acted as Phar-Mor’s auditor and declared the retailer’s books in order. At the same time, Coopers repeatedly expressed concerns in its annual audit reports and letters to management that Phar-Mor was engaged in hard-to-reconcile accounting practices and called for improvements. Coopers identified Phar-Mor as a “high risk” audit client and Coopers documented that Phar-Mor appeared to be systematically exaggerating its accounts receivables and inventory, its primary assets. Phar-Mor’s bankruptcy examiner would later note that the retailer said its inventory jumped from $11 million in 1989 to $36 million in 1990 to a whopping $153 million in 1991.

Creditors suggested that the audit partner’s judgment was clouded by his desire to sell additional services to Phar-Mor and other related parties. Such “cross-selling” was common, and it was not against professional standards; however, the creditors claimed Coopers put extraordinary pressure on its auditors to get more business.3 The audit partner was said to be hungry for new business because he had been passed over for additional profit sharing for failing to sell enough of the firm’s services. The following year, the audit partner began acquiring clients connected to Mickey Monus and eventually sold over $900,000 worth of services to 23 persons who were either Monus’ relatives or friends.

3 Subsequent to Coopers & Lybrand’s audits of Phar-Mor, cross selling of certain services (e.g., information systems implementation, aggressive tax strategies) was prohibited for public company auditors by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and related rulings of the PCAOB, SEC and AICPA.