Financial Shenanigans April 30, 2010

Financial Shenanigans

Author: Schilit, Howard
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-170307-9
ISBN-10: 0071703071
©2010 | 3rd Edition | 304 pages , Hardcover
Pub Date: May 2010
Price: US$ 34.95
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From the “ Sherlock Holmes of Accounting,” the tools you need to stay a step ahead of the crooks

With major financial scandals popping up in greater numbers—and with more inevitably on the way—it has never been more important for you to understand what dishonest companies do to trick investors. Since the early 1990s, Financial Shenanigans has been helping investors unearth deceptive financial reporting at the most critical time— before they suffer major losses.

Now, the third edition broadens its focus to include the newest, most sophisticated techniques companies use to mislead investors.

Referred to as the “Sherlock Holmes of Accounting” by BusinessWeek, Howard Schilit and renowned forensic accounting expert Jeremy Perler take you deeper into the corporate bag of tricks, exposing new levels of accounting gimmickry and arming you with the investigative tools you need to detect:

• Earnings Manipulation Shenanigans: Learn the latest tricks companies use to exaggerate revenue and earnings.
• Cash Flow Shenanigans: Discover new techniques devised by management that allow it to manipulate cash flow as easily as earnings.
• Key Metrics Shenanigans: See how companies use misleading “key”metrics to fool investors about their financial performance.

Financial Shenanigans brings you completely up to date on accounting chicanery in the global markets, shining a light on the most shocking frauds and financial reporting miscreants. This insightful, detailed guide written by recognized experts on the subject provides the knowledge and tools you need to spot even the most subtle signs of financial shenanigans.

Endorsements

“Howard Schilit is the authority on forensic accounting. Financial Shenanigans is invaluable reading for market participants seeking to identify deceptive behavior in company financial statements.” Julian Robertson, legendary investor and founder, Tiger Management

“A must-read! The authors teach forensic financial statement analysis in an easy-to-digest format with lots of war stories. Guaranteed to help investors in their quest to avoid ticking time bombs in their portfolios.”
Marc A. Siegel, board member, Financial Accounting Standards Board

“This is a timeless guide to better understand how financial malfeasance can be spotted early. Financial Shenanigans teaches all of us fraud-detection-made-easy.”
Jules Kroll, pioneering private investigator and founder of Kroll Associates and K2 Global

“Required reading for every investor who desires to avoid financial losses. This new edition is a classic and better than ever.”
Thornton L. O’glove, author, Quality of Earnings

“If the original Financial Shenanigans was the Bible of detecting accounting frauds, then this latest version is the Talmud of cooked books. Regulators, audit committee members, and business journalists should be required to read this work if they are involved in public companies.”
Boris Feldman, partner, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Palo Alto

“An incisive and entertaining review of the recipes used by corporations and executives to ‘cook the books.’ It’s a must-read for investors, lawyers, corporate directors, and anyone else interested in the integrity of the accounting and governance process.”
Joseph A. Grundfest, professor of law and business and codirector, Rock Center on Corporate Governance, Stanford Law School

About the Authors

Dr. Howard M. Schilit (Key Biscayne, FL and Rockville, MD) is an international leader in forensic accounting and corporate governance. He is the founder and chief executive officer of the Financial Shenanigans Detection (FSD) Group, LLC. Previously, Dr. Schilit founded a global forensic investment research organization, Center for Financial Research & Analysis (CFRA), which alerted institutional investors and others to companies with deteriorating operational cash flows, aggressive accounting policies, and inadequate control environments. Dr. Schilit frequently lectures on the subject of financial shenanigans to investors, bankers, lawyers, and insurers. In a feature story, BusinessWeek referred to Dr. Schilit as the “Sherlock Holmes of Accounting,” and Smart Money magazine selected him as one of the “Power 30″ of investing in 2002 and 2003.

A former professor of accounting at American University, Dr. Schilit holds a doctorate in accounting from the University of Maryland. Jeremy Perler, CFA, CPA, (Potomac, MD) A renowned expert in identifying companies that are engaged in accounting trickery and investor deception, Mr. Perler is co-Director of Research of RiskMetrics Group’s forensic accounting research boutique (formerly CFRA). RiskMetrics Group, a global leader in risk management, corporate governance and financial research services, is the world’s foremost provider of forensic accounting research, helping clients identify unappreciated differences between the reported financial results and the underlying business performance of their portfolio companies. RiskMetrics Group acquired CFRA from TA Associates in 2007. Prior to joining CFRA in 2002, Mr. Perler worked in the New York office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, auditing public companies and studying the entwined accounting and behavioral mechanisms that shape financial reporting. Mr. Perler holds a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where he also taught undergraduate accounting. Mr. Perler is frequently featured at industry conferences and professional training seminars, as well as in media outlets such as Barron’s, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.

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