Throughout 2001 and into 2002, executives Ebbers and Sullivan at WorldCom hid $3.8 billion in accounting defecits. They did this by reporting everyday expenses as capital investments (capital investments are things that a company spends money on over time rather than all at once, so a large charge is accounted for as many smaller ones). 

 

Over this time, WorldCom originally reported over $1.5 billion in net income, when actually they were losing money that entire time. In 2001/2002, WorldCom reported a cash flow of $7.7 billion, now reporting closer to $4.6 billion. 

 

These extreme deficits attributed to the multi-billion dollar scandal that crippled WorldCom (How to Hide $3.8 Billion, 2002).