Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts [Hardcover]

Howard Silverstone (Author), Michael Sheetz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471463248 | ISBN-13: 978-0471463245 | Publication Date: January 2, 2004 | Edition: 1

A thorough guide to forensic accounting and investigation for the non-expert

Here's a dependable, up-to-date resource for detecting, preventing, and successfully prosecuting financial fraud. The authors address all phases of forensic accounting, complete with actual examples demonstrating applications in the real world. In one conveniently organized volume, non-experts get access to all the critical accounting principles and investigative techniques that help protect any organization from fraud, including insightful advice on where an organization is most susceptible to fraud and how to implement effective investigation processes when fraud is suspected.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whether you are a senior executive, a middle manager, an investigator, or a small business owner, Forensic Accounting provides what you need to know to ensure that your organization is not brought to its knees by a criminal in the accounting department." (Security Management; 10/2007)

"Even experienced financial fraud examiners will find this book handy for helping prevent and reduce losses from fraud." (Journal of Accountancy, January 2007) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

Once an exclusive domain for high-level accountants and auditors skilled at breaking down complex financial transactions, forensic accounting is a responsibility that now falls on the shoulders of a more diverse group of people in an organization. While accountants and other financial professionals are invaluable as expert witnesses or consultants brought in to uncover complicated schemes, their help alone isn’t sufficient to detect, prevent, and successfully prosecute financial fraud.

Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts provides a thorough, up-to-date grounding in forensic accounting and fraud investigation techniques to help non-experts better understand basic forensic accounting principles, how different types of fraud occur, and how to detect and investigate fraud in an approach that maximizes the chances of successful prosecution of the perpetrator.

This invaluable book spotlights insightful advice on where an organization is most susceptible to fraud and how to implement effective investigation processes when fraud is suspected. It spans from basic accounting principles as they apply to forensic accounting and the most common types of fraud to an examination of the investigative process, documentary evidence, the role of the expert witness, and interview techniques.

Organized into two sections for quick and easy reference–Fraud and Forensic Accounting Overview and Financial Crime Investigation– discussions address all phases of forensic accounting, complete with actual examples demonstrating applications in the real world.

For executives, managers, criminal investigators, prosecuting attorneys, and everyone else in business or wanting to learn about business, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts is a reliable resource of accounting principles and investigative techniques that help protect any organization from fraud.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471463248
• ISBN-13: 978-0471463245
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for non-accounting professional!, October 29, 2006

By 

Ho Kheong Tan "Avid reader" (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts (CourseSmart) (Hardcover)

Howard Silverstone has performed well in describing clearly the major accounting cycles and the control points that need to be focused to reduce the possibility of fraud.

Interesting statistics on the characteristics of fraudsters are provided and methodologies used by forensic accountant and lawyers to build their case.

This book is great for non accounting professionals to have an insight on accounting environments but this book does not provide much value for experienced accounting professionals except if they were interested in how their counterpart in forensic accounting perform.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great intro for non-accounting professionals, October 1, 2007

By 

Ben Rothke "Author of 'Computer Security: 20 ... (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts (CourseSmart) (Hardcover)

No company can thrive without trusted employees, but some die because they trusted employees too much, allowing them to use their positions for illicit gain. The lesson: Trust but verify via accounting controls. Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts offers an effective primer on how financial fraud occurs, demonstrating the critical need for accounting controls. More important, the book lays out the fundamentals of forensic accounting and the fraud investigation process.

The book is an easy read, organized into two sections. Part 1 provides an overview of forensic accounting, illustrating the prevalence of accounting fraud across sectors, and in companies of all sizes. The authors offer real-world examples of trusted employees who betrayed that trust. In many cases, their employers never recovered from the fraud these bad actors perpetrated. This section may leave the reader suspicious of everyone in his or her company's accounting department, which might not be a bad thing, at least initially.

Part 2 constitutes the bulk of the book, which details how to investigate accounting improprieties. All of the required steps are detailed, from the investigative process and interviewing of witnesses to documentation, analysis tools, and more.

Whether you are a senior executive, a middle manager, an investigator, or a small business owner, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts provides what you need to know to ensure that your organization is not brought to its knees by a criminal in the accounting department.