"This is more than just a black eye," said James Duncan, accounting professor. "I am ashamed of us."

This week's announcement by telecom giant WorldCom, the number two U.S. long-distance phone company, that its accounting procedures were fraudulent is the latest corporate scandal to rock the business world.

Duncan said the news is another damning indictment of auditor Authur Andersen LLP, which was responsible for approving the accounts of WorldCom and Texas-based Enron Corp.

Enron imploded late last year, leaving thousands of employees without jobs, the company bankrupt and thousands of investors in the firm with virtually worthless portfolios.

"What has happened in the last two to three years has ruined the credibility and reputation earned by professional accountants over a great many years," Duncan said. "We've taken this reputation of accountants being honest and ethical and destroyed it. It is simply gone.

Duncan said WorldCom's fraud is far bigger in money terms-six times bigger-than Enron's misdeeds, and further undermines the trust of investors in corporate America.

The latest scandal began Tuesday when WorldCom said it had not actually made the $1.4 billion of profits it reported in 2001, nor the $130 million stated during the first three months of 2002.

WorldCom said chief financial officer Scott Sullivan improperly booked expenses as investments in order to make the company look much healthier than it actually was.

"What WorldCom did was very simple," Duncan said. "This isn't a simple bookkeeping mistake. This is fraud. It was clearly intentional.

"Obviously, the auditors did not do their jobs because this should have been caught," he said. "They didn't do a close audit because they probably were squeezed by the corporation and were forced to curtail or limit their procedures."

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Duncan at jduncan@bsu.eduor (765) 285-5118.)