
8 Part I n Information Crisis to Business Excellence
Table 1-2: The High Costs of Poor Quality Business Information
COMPANY /
INDUSTRY
OUTCOME (COSTS (REF DATE)) LOSS AMOUNT
AIG Agrees to pay $1.6 B to settle allega-
tions that it used deceptive accounting
practices to mislead investors and reg-
ulatory agencies. (TN, 2006/02/10).
$1,600,000,000
AIG Bailout money of $223 B from taxpay-
ers. (TN, 2009/03/03).
$223,000,000,000
Arthur Andersen Auditing failure at Enron led to $1.3 B
loss in pension. (FT, 2002/01).
$1,300,000,000
AT&T AT&T agrees to pay $177,000 in fines
in Tennessee for billing Customers for
services they hadn’t authorized.
(TN, 2004/03/06).
$177,000
Australia Dept.
of Defence
Defence to lose compensation billions
in reforms due to overcompensation
due to error in inflation: A$ 4.3 B =
US$ 2.99 B. (AFR, 2009/03/30).
$2,990,000,000
Bristol-Myers-Squibb Fined $150 M for inflating its revenue.
(USA, 2004/04/05).
$150,000,000
Bristol-Myers-Squibb Paid $300 M to settle lawsuit
(accounting re: Imclone). (USA,
2004/04/04).
$300,000,000
Cell Phone
Companies
Agree to pay 32 states $5 M and
required to give Customers a grace
period for cancellations and better
information. (TN, 2004/07/22).
$5,000,000
City Government Free garbage pick-up due to oversight
for 90 homes outside of Nashville’s
urban services district for almost 10
years may have cost the city as much
as $55,000. (TN, 2005/03/10).
$55,000 ...