Detecting Accounting Fraud Before It's Too Late

Prologue

I consider myself an expert on corporate manipulation and fraud. I researched the issue extensively and was an expert witness in numerous lawsuits of corporate misinformation and fraud. I am also a CPA and have taught accounting for decades. So, I really didn't expect to learn a lot from yet another book about corporate fraud. What a surprise! Detecting Accounting Fraud Before It's Too Late, by Professor Oriol Amat, a well-known and prolific accounting scholar, is full of new facts, insights, and useful prescriptions about corporate fraud and information manipulation. What a delight to learn so many new and practical things from this book. It's also great fun to read. Did you know, for example, that fraud already existed in Mesopotamia in 1700 B.C.?

Information manipulation by public companies is prevalent. In the United States, more than 70% of public companies regularly beat analysts' consensus earnings estimates. This cannot be done without certain a “management” (an elegant term for manipulation) of analysts' estimates, reported earnings, or, in many cases, both. Accounting and finance research documents extensively numerous cases of corporate misinformation and reporting fraud. There is no doubt that this phenomenon is, regrettably, quite prevalent. But the evidence is scattered, and often anecdotal. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive, in-depth, and practical discussion of corporate fraud. This is provided by Detecting Accounting Fraud Before It's Too ...