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Accounting firm Andersen criticized WorldCom Inc.’s practice of shifting expenses off its bottom line more than a year before the company began hiding $3.8 billion in costs, according to a copy of a now-missing report shown to jurors Wednesday at the accounting firm’s fraud trial.
Former Andersen auditor Kenneth Avery testified that he didn’t remember the document. But in a June 17, 2004 deposition, investor lawyer Jeffrey Barrack asked him to hold the document up to light to read the blacked-out portion. A video was played for the jury. Cross-examination of Avery by investor lawyer Sean Coffey included evidence that Andersen knew of accounting irregularities at WorldCom before signing off on a $5 billion bond issue.
