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

Howard Silverstone (Author), Michael Sheetz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471784877 | ISBN-13: 978-0471784876 | Publication Date: October 27, 2006 | Edition: 2

A must-have reference for every business professional, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts, Second Edition is a necessary tool for those interested in understanding how financial fraud occurs and what to do when you find or suspect it within your organization. With comprehensive coverage, it provides insightful advice on where an organization is most susceptible to fraud.

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)

From the Inside Flap

A must-have reference for every business professional, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts, Second Edition is a necessary tool for those interested in understanding how financial fraud occurs in an organization and what to do when it is found or suspected. With comprehensive coverage, authors and industry experts Howard Silverstone and Michael Sheetz provide insightful advice on where an organization is most susceptible to fraud and how to effectively act when fraud is suspected.

Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts, Second Edition features:

• Discussion of the implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and?PCAOB rulings
• All new real-life examples for business managers and criminal investigators
• New legal milestone cases
• A detailed look at the investigative process, providing guidance on documentary evidence, the role of the expert witness, and interview techniques

Highly readable and accessible, this timely book is conveniently organized into two sections?—forensic accounting overview and financial crime investigation—providing readers with a complete grounding in all phases of forensic accounting and fraud investigation. The methods and tips provided enable managers to readily recognize and investigate financial fraud as well as the evolving sophistication of financial crimes occurring within their firms.

Executives, managers, criminal investigators, and prosecuting attorneys all require a basic understanding of accounting principles and investigative techniques to protect their organizations from fraud. Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts, Second Edition helps non-accountants better understand basic forensic accounting principles, how different types of fraud occur, and how to detect and probe fraud in an approach that maximizes the chances of successful prosecution of the perpetrator.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (October 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471784877
• ISBN-13: 978-0471784876
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Crime & Criminals  > Forensic Science

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.