Sidgmore said in a letter to Bush that the long-distance telephone company's management is "equally surprised and outraged" by the accounting improprieties.

He described steps that WorldCom is taking, including its investigation, selling assets and reducing costs.

WorldCom, which began cutting 17,000 jobs Friday, agreed to a Securities and Exchange Commission request that a monitor be named to oversee compensation to executives. The company hid losses for more than a year by wrongly accounting for $3.9 billion in costs. WorldCom director James Allen said an independent investigation of the company's accounting will take as long as three months to complete and will include a look at the board itself.

"This is a very in-depth investigation," Allen said in a phone interview. "Everybody's going to be looked at."

The company has hired lawyer William R. McLucas, former chief of the enforcement division of the SEC, to conduct its internal investigation.

WorldCom fired Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan on Tuesday when it announced the hidden losses, and the SEC accused the company of fraud in a civil suit filed the next day.

The monitor the company agreed to Friday will have oversight of all payments to WorldCom workers and executives.U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said at a hearing in New York that he would appoint the monitor next week.

Some donations returned

At least two members of Congress from Missouri who accepted donations from WorldCom are considering giving the money back.

Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo., already has returned the $5,500 the company gave her, spokesman Tony Wyche said Friday.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-St. Louis County, plans to do the same, spokeswoman Kori Bernards said. She said Gephardt is still checking to see how much he received from WorldCom.

Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Respo nsive Politics put the total at $3,000. Gephardt is unsure whether he will return the money or donate it to charity.

Campaign finance records show that Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., also accepted WorldCom donations this year or last. Neither could be reached Friday to find out if they planned to return the gifts.