Cooper, Cynthia

born 1964 A U.S. internal auditor who played a major role in uncovering accounting malpractice at *WorldCom, the *multinational telecommunications corporation that filed for *Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002. Cooper was WorldCom’s *Chief Internal Auditor, and for her role in uncovering the accounting *fraud she was nominated by Time magazine as one of its "Persons of the Year 2002." This publicity helped to bring the importance of internal auditing to public attention. Cooper’s tenacity when faced with senior management resistance to her auditing reviews prompted her to work through the night to uncover and analyze accounting entries that had *capitalized billions of dollars of *operating expenses. Media reports have often described Cooper’s activities at WorldCom as *whistle-blowing, but her actions can perhaps be categorized as tenacious internal auditing. Further reading: Barrier (2003); Jeter (2003); Ripley (2002)