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What if Worldcom had been simply errors?
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Sometimes the crooks are outside the company, not inside. When an accounting scandal craters a company’s share price, everyone can get hurt, including the insiders.
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S.F. Cardwell
Dot Com
A Novel
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 | Dot Com company founder Jim Ross has worked hard to build a software business that has gone public. Just as the future looks brightest, he is shocked to discover that something is wrong with their accounting. He doesn’t understand the problem, blames the treasurer, Jerry, and fires him. The discovery by the company’s auditors surprises the conniving CFO Cindy, whose incompetence allowed the problem to continue. Simultaneously, the SEC launches an investigation, triggered by illegal lobbying by a foreign competitor, and the FBI investigates a securities trading scam involving the company stock. The share price plummets, and the crisis threatens the ability of the company to survive and keep its people. Jim realizes he must get Jerry back to help run the company, and in the process learns ideas he needs from how Jerry’s wife solved her mid life crisis. The auditors announce that the accounting errors were not as serious as originally estimated, and the SEC realizes that no false financial statements were issued. As Jim and Jerry put the company back on the right track, the FBI arrests one of the villains for the stock trading scam.
Dot Com is not Enron or Worldcom. The insiders make mistakes, but don’t even realize it until the outside auditors, who have ethics, catch the errors. Nonetheless, the insiders at all levels suffer the same loss of personal wealth, the same anxiety, as if it had been of their conscious doing. The crisis becomes not just one of confidence in the company, but one of motivation for the employees.
Cardwell’s character Jim Ross learns that “you are most dangerous when you think you know everything.” Jim thinks he has control of his company and his life until this “accounting irregularity” upsets everything. He fires the man who has the skills the company needs to bail it out, erroneously believing he caused the problem. He must then eat crow to get Jerry back.
Jim’s learning process is helped by two women who come into his life. At the beginning of the book, Jerry’s wife is suffering from depression induced by a lack of meaningful, achievable goals. She pulls herself out by restarting a career. Jim is able to learn by vicarious experience and apply this knowledge to reinvigorate his team.
Jim the confirmed bachelor becomes romantically involved with a fashion model. She acts as a sounding board for Jim, and as his conscience regarding the firing of Jerry and the eventual demotion of Cindy. Her son indirectly teaches him the need for loyalty and patience. He realizes his temper can make him into a kids movie monster.
| | | Dot Com is primarily set in New York City, and provides an insider’s view of living and working in and commuting to the city. Cardwell’s realistic views of the neighborhoods, of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, of ethnic dining on Ninth Avenue all leave the reader with the feeling of being there.
Accounting scandals often involve technical details that are alien to most readers. Cardwell’s decades of experience become obvious as he gently takes the reader through the convoluted maze of what is permitted and what is not. He deftly weaves the technical details into the plot through conversations of the accountants and the SEC staff. The reader learns by osmosis as the plot develops.
"Cardwell’s characters are fun and well developed", according to one reviewer. Jim Ross is believable as a driven executive. He is married to his company, and has no balance in his life. His new girlfriend’s sensitivity, compassion, and occasional motherly scolding provide the insight he needs to get his life on track. The CFO, Cindy, has clearly risen beyond her Peter Principle limit, and suffers the consequences.
About the Author:
S.F. Cardwell is a CPA with over 30 years experience, including 20 years with national public accounting firms. He lives in nearly rural Morris County, New Jersey. His numerous professional articles have been widely published and teaches taxation at an area college. | | | Read before you buy! Click the link below, or go to the Excerpts page. |
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