Page 28 - How Not To Cook The Books Article

Second - Finance - an opportunity or a threat?

The issue of finance is multi-faceted but Unwin and Ibbotson tried to

manipulate the insolvency of the company by cooking-the-books.

Recourse to the accounts will help illuminate the financial health of
Wrekin Construction.

In the case of Wrekin in 2007-2009 perception was vastly different from

reality.

Third - Culture

Organisational culture is set from the top down. It would be worthwhile
examining the - Purpose (why was the business set up) – Ethos (how

the business is viewed e.g. by Owners/management) – Strategy (how
the company implements its strategy) - relationship that Unwin
established and how it impacted on Ibbotson and company performance.
Strategy is conditional on both purpose and ethos. For Unwin it was
probable that survival (Purpose) had truly become the primary objective

with the acquisition of Wrekin Construction. In turn this was influenced
by the way he saw the company and his involvement in it – its ethos and
together these impacted on the strategy chosen – fraud.

Ibbotson would seem to have taken his lead from Unwin with the
resulting fraudulent entries in the accounts, signing off and
misinformation to the auditors.