Who is the world's worst accountant?

The problems at Enron have highlighted what can happen when an accountant
goes off the rails. Indeed, the energy giant’s former CFO Andrew Fastow was
sentenced to ten years in a US jail for his sins.

Link: Click here to vote on who you
think is the World’s Worst Accountant.

But a brief trawl through the AccountancyAge.com archives reveals a
surprising number of finance professionals, fake accountants and just plain
fraudsters who have been tempted to fiddle the books.

Here are the worst offenders – most of whom were caught red handed.

Skilling faces 170-year jail sentence

Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling could receive a 170-year jail sentence if judge Tim
Lake issues the maximum sentence

Jailed Survivor winner ‘forgot to tell
accountants’
Reality show winner jailed for tax evasion

Adviser jailed for stealing tax
payments
Adviser gets five years for £790,000 fraud

‘Greedy’ accountant jailed
Shropshire accountant stole £60,000

Ice-cream CFO gets jail time
No sweet ending for former Ben & Jerry’s finance chief

TransTec’s ex finance head faces jail

The former FD of a company set up by Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson faces jail for
fraud

Prescott’s department tightens controls
after fake accountant jailed
Jailing of fake accountant prompts changes to controls at ODPM

Accountant jailed over oil fraud
Scottish accountant jailed for laundering cash as part of oil fraud case

Fraudster Leaf gets 12-year jail term

Conman who ‘deprived’ the Inland Revenue of £55m, of which the whereabouts of
£22m is unknown, is sentenced to lengthy jail term

Financier faces jail for £76m tax fraud

Eight-year investigation by HMRC uncovers £76m fraud by British businessman

Wembley CEO faces three years in US
jail
Former CEO of gaming company Nigel Potter – a chartered accountant – is
sentenced to three years in US jail

More WorldCom executives head for jail

Jail term for former WorldCom management executive Betty Vinson – chief
financial officer is next

Enron finance executive jailed for
fraud
Former Enron finance executive sentenced over 1999 accounting sham

Legal aid lawyer jailed for fraud

It had been revealed that former Legal Aid lawyer Tim Robinson was jailed in
2001 for defrauding the Legal Aid Board.

Pop stars’ accountant jailed
The accountant who yesterday pleaded guilty to ‘milking’ over £1m from his pop
band clients has today been jailed for a year.

Ex-Computer Associates CFO admits fraud

The former chief financial officer of Computer Associates, along with two former
vice-presidents, have admitted to illegally boosting the software maker’s
earnings.

Milk fraudster jailed
Leading fraud specialists have warned that senior public finance figures must
implement tighter financial controls, after a corrupt official stole hundreds of
thousands of pounds by abusing a licence to print blank cheques.

Five months jail for wife of ex-Enron
CFO
A US judge has agreed a plea bargain from the wife of the former chief financial
officer at Enron.

Terrorists launder £600bn through
markets
More than $1 trillion (£600bn) in terrorism and drug money is laundered through
the world’s financial markets every year, according to the US federal spending
watchdog.

Former CSG finance chief faces jail
term
The former finance director of Corporate Services Group as well as its former
chief executive are both facing lengthy jail terms for accounting
irregularities.

Trainee accountant jailed over software
scam
Bilal Khan, a 23-year-old trainee accountant, has been sentenced to 12 months in
prison and fined £15,000 for selling counterfeit software.