Starbucks U.K. Tax Scandal

Wayne and Bryan Heldreth are brothers who often engage in shady  business deals and regularly swindle honest people out of their money.  Wayne and Bryan have decided to take their business to a new level.  There is a small hardware store in town with a good reputation for  honesty and friendly service. With the large amounts of money they have  accumulated from other schemes, Wayne and Bryan decide to buy the  hardware store. They make the owner an offer he can’t refuse, and they  are soon in the hardware business. As new managers of the store, Wayne  and Bryan make some changes. They begin to order bigger shipments from  suppliers, paying them off promptly, using money acquired through loans.  They sell off a lot of these shipments at cost to their unruly friend,  Buck Aroo. As orders get larger and payments remain prompt, the  suppliers are willing to extend more and more credit to the hardware  store. Also, because it appears that business is good, the bank is  willing to lend more money.

Things are going as planned for Wayne and Bryan. Just as they had  intended to do all along, when they have a lot of money on loan from the  bank and have just sold huge amounts of inventory to Buck that they had  purchased on credit, they file for bankruptcy. The suppliers and the  bank are perplexed. Upon investigation, they find that Wayne and Bryan  have neither the money to pay them back nor the inventory to liquidate  in order to pay them. Wayne and Bryan have successfully “sold” their  inventory or hidden their cash in other bank accounts, so it appears  they don’t have the means to pay back their creditors.

Using both the required text and external resources, address the  question provided below. Responses should be unique and incorporate your  personal perspectives that are supported by reading and research.  Initial comments should be 1-2 paragraphs in length for each point.  Follow-up postings should not exceed a paragraph and should add  additional information or perspective to the original author’s comments.

Who would be the MOST LIKELY individual or entity to detect this  activity, and how, before it gets to the point of damaging suppliers and  lenders?

Wayne and Bryan Heldreth are brothers who often engage in shady  business deals and regularly swindle honest people out of their money.  Wayne and Bryan have decided to take their business to a new level.  There is a small hardware store in town with a good reputation for  honesty and friendly service. With the large amounts of money they have  accumulated from other schemes, Wayne and Bryan decide to buy the  hardware store. They make the owner an offer he can’t refuse, and they  are soon in the hardware business. As new managers of the store, Wayne  and Bryan make some changes. They begin to order bigger shipments from  suppliers, paying them off promptly, using money acquired through loans.  They sell off a lot of these shipments at cost to their unruly friend,  Buck Aroo. As orders get larger and payments remain prompt, the  suppliers are willing to extend more and more credit to the hardware  store. Also, because it appears that business is good, the bank is  willing to lend more money.

Things are going as planned for Wayne and Bryan. Just as they had  intended to do all along, when they have a lot of money on loan from the  bank and have just sold huge amounts of inventory to Buck that they had  purchased on credit, they file for bankruptcy. The suppliers and the  bank are perplexed. Upon investigation, they find that Wayne and Bryan  have neither the money to pay them back nor the inventory to liquidate  in order to pay them. Wayne and Bryan have successfully “sold” their  inventory or hidden their cash in other bank accounts, so it appears  they don’t have the means to pay back their creditors.

Using both the required text and external resources, address the  question provided below. Responses should be unique and incorporate your  personal perspectives that are supported by reading and research.  Initial comments should be 1-2 paragraphs in length for each point.  Follow-up postings should not exceed a paragraph and should add  additional information or perspective to the original author’s comments.

Who would be the MOST LIKELY individual or entity to detect this  activity, and how, before it gets to the point of damaging suppliers and  lenders?