The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "financial consultants" ...
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Platts: Russian Gas Giant Mines U.S. Energy Data
Russia’s state-owned natural gas company says the U.S. shale-gas boom is economically unsustainable — and it’s buttressing its claim with financial data collected by an American consulting firm located less than 20 miles from the White House. Moscow-based Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, is working with Pace Global Energy Services, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia, to analyze how much money U.S. gas companies are spending on hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Gazprom, citing the Virginia company’s data, says the true costs of U.S. shale-gas production are upwards of 150% higher than the revenues its practitioners have been reaping in the last few years. Gazprom says this will ultimately lead to the demise of fracking-based shale-gas drilling in the US and other countries that are considering adopting it. But Gazprom’s critics say the company and its unlikely Washington-area ally are spreading “myths and misconceptions” about the U.S.-led shale-gas gas boom so that European and Asian countries will not develop their own shale plays, and will instead continue to buy conventional Russian gas.
Tags: Oil; gas; natural resources; fraud; oil wells
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Corruption in the 2-million-member Service Employees
This investigation of the nation's fastest-growing labor union uncovered corruption in its largest California local as well as questionable financial practices at several affiliated organizations and its national headquarters. The stories revealed that the president of the California chapter - who represented nearly 200,000 working poor people, caregivers making about $9 an hour - had funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues money to himself his relatives, and spent similar sums on golf resorts, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar lounge. They also showed that Tyrone Freeman misused two nonprofits for financial gain and political purposes, and that the head of the SEIU's largest Michigan local misappropriated funds from one of the charities. In addition, the stories reported that the SEIU's national office, while holding itself up as a model of reform, paid millions of dollars to consulting firms, nonprofits, and individuals with family ties and other personal connections to the union's top leaders.
Tags: Unions; SEIU; corruption; California; Michigan; Tyrone Freeman
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Post-Enron Law Opens the Boardroom
As a result of the 2002 passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the records of large companies became more readily available to investigators and the public. Due to these public filings, the financial compensation for directors at Enron became widely known: "directors received $350,000 a year to attend a handful of meetings. Half collected thousands more as highly paid consultants to the giant energy trader. Others accepted multi-million-dollar donations from the company for nonprofit organizations where they worked."
Tags: Enron; Sarbanes-Oxley Act; directors compensation; nonprofit
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Misuse of Tax Caps
The reporters' investigation focused on the community approval of local tax-rates without realizing that under a loop-hole in a tax cap law passed previously by the Illinois State legislature, public departments who knew about the loop-hole were able to collect a much higher sum of taxes than the constituents thought they were approving.
Tags: tax rates; loop-hole; tax law; financial consultants; school districts; property tax; district budgets; FOIA
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Merry-Go-Round: Ernst & Young advised the client, but not about everything. It didn't reveal business ties alleged to pose conflict with its consulting job.
Story explains how retailer Merry-Go-Round got into financial trouble, and was then led astray by Ernst & Young. According to the story, "...months went by as they (Ernst & Young) conducted studies, produced financial projections and developed a cost-saving proposal. Far from proposing immediate store closings, Ernst & Young recommended stocking up stores with a wide-ranging variety of fashions in hopes a sales pickup in the next season's back-to-school shopping. It didn't work. The crisis grew worse."
Tags: Ernst & Young; Ernst and Young; accounting; Merry-Go-Round; Merry Go Round; retail; stores; clothing stores; teenage clothing; bankruptcy; law; lawyers; consultants; money; financial loss
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The Profitable Ties that Bind
A Tacoma News Tribune investigation revealed that "at least 133 University of Washington researchers have financial ties to corporations with a stake in the outcome of their research, and the number of researchers with conflicts is growing. Many receive lucrative consulting contracts from companies with a stake in their university research, while other earn royalties or own company stock. Though the university claims the outside income of most researchers is minimal, some earn tens of thousands of dollars on the side from corporate sponsors.Though the university claims to have a tough conflicts-of-interest policy, the investigation found UW almost never says 'no' to researchers' conflicts of interest."
Tags: University of Washington; corporate interests; consulting; contracts; academics; business; conflicts of interest
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Chelan County PUD, Inc.
The World reports on financial blunders at the Chelan County Public Utility District, one of the largest publicly owned electricity generators in the country. The stories found that "the PUD had evolved into a corporate-like entity focused on profits and run by appointed managers rather than elected commissioners; had engaged in other questionable practices (such as rewarding employees with "cashouts" and cushy pensions, and spending millions on consultants and travel); and had lost touch with its public power roots, long part of the community psyche."
Tags: privatization; lobbying; politics; business; finances; electricity
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Sleeping with the auditor
SF Weekly looks at the relationship between San Francisco city government and its auditor KPMG, and finds similarities with the Enron scandal. According to the contest entry questionnaire: "For example, the audit's firm consulting division sold accounting software to the city that generated financial statements that were, in turn, audited by the KMPG's own audit division, thereby eliminating important checks and balances mandated by the "overarching principles" that govern auditor independence."
Tags: public sector; financial transactions; accounting; budget; California Board of accountancy
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Government by Developer
The Dallas Morning News investigates conflicts of interests stemming from special incentives that the city government has put in place for suburban developers. In the core of these incentives was the creation of "largely unregulated and overlooked special taxing districts." The reporting team determined that Tom Jester, the mayor of Dallas at this time, had a financial interest in one of the luxury housing developments projected in the suburbs. The series also examines the role that outside consultants played in creating the special districts and facilitating the relationship between the city and the developers. After the findings were published, the FBI started a corruption investigation.
Tags: housing; suburban reporting; conflicts of interest; land records; city government; code of ethics; right-of-way; corruption; development incentives; Denton county
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Wake up and smell the coffee: Starbucks says a company manager stole millions by simply forging a signature
Anderson revealed how a newly hired Starbucks' manager, Rosemary Heinen, "was on her way to ripping off a mind-boggling $450,000 a month from the coffee giant". Rosemary submitted phony outside consulting service invoices, approved invoices herself, and picked up payment checks in person. Unknown to Starbucks, Heinen's family had a history of money troubles, the Seattle Weekly reports. The coffee giant now attempts to recover its losses, and is reviewing the breakdowns in its internal financial controls.
Tags: court records; collection of property; obsessive- compulsive disorder; forgery