revenue growth playing a significant role in WorldCom's early success. Analysts marveled at WorldCom's ability to outgrow an industry that was, itself, outgrowing the overall economy."1
             During this time the CEO consistently spoke about the impressive financial record of the company as it related to revenue growth during quarterly conference calls with the aforementioned analysts. In addition Ebbers asserted that the continuing revenue growth was the most important component in the increasing of WorldCom's stock market value and as such the stock could be used as currency for the purposes of corporate expansion through acquisitions. The author also reports that the top executive compensation and bonuses were dependent upon the performance of the company. In particular the company had to realize a double-digit rate of revenue growth. With these things being understood, corporate performance had to be consistent with expectations. However meeting such expectations made many suspicious of the company because at the time market conditions in the telecommunications industry was declining, but WorldCom continued to report remarkable revenue growth numbers.
             As you can see the events that took place at WorldCom during the aforementioned timeframe were scandalous and resulted in a great deal of distrust of corporate America. The problems at WorldCom were also highly publicized because of the other corporate scandals that had taken place at the time involving Enron, Tyco and other large firms. The events that took place at WorldCom also contributed to a decrease in investor confidence at a time when the American economy was struggling.
             Ultimately the true facts of the financial condition of WorldCom came to light. The first inclination that the company was in trouble came when WorldCom reported that it improperly booked $3.8 billion in expenses. Nearly a month after this report the company announced that it was filing Chapt...