University of California Los Angeles Wells Fargo Scandal Case Discussion

In the Fall of 2016, news of fraudulent customer accounts created at Wells Fargo was made public. Please do some Internet research about this scandal, then respond to the questions below. Here’s a link to an article to get started:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/wells-fargo-created-phony-accounts-bank-fees/index.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

1) From Ch 1 of our textbook, managerial accounting is used to plan and control. Planning is setting a goal or objective. What do you think about the plan Wells Fargo executive management set for customer accounts? (Things to consider: what was the intent of the goal? intent good or bad? how was the target level of the goal set? is it reasonable? what goal would you set to increase your company’s profitability?)

2) How did Wells Fargo control after establishing a plan? Control in this context means to incentivise or influence employees behavior so their actions are aligned with the company’s goal. (Things to consider: how were branches/employees held accountable or motivated? how was executive management held accountable for attaining the goal?)

3) So who’s fault is it? Who should be held responsible for the fraudulent account creation? Why? What consequences should they face?

4) It’s often difficult to get all the facts about a situation like this. What question(s) do you still have and why is that question important?

Grading rubric:

5 pts – presentation (grammar, punctuation, clear formatting,

5 pts – include a list of sources (4 minimum) – links to the articles you referenced is fine

20 pts – content (5 pts for each questions) must demonstrate you’ve thoughtfully considered each question and explored the story and concepts, 1-2 pages. A couple sentences per question is not adequate.