Financial shenanigans: how to detect accounting gimmicks and fraud in financial reports

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Preface: Reflections on My Last 25 Years

Part One Establishing The Foundation

1 25 Years of Shenanigans

2 Just Touch Up the X-Rays

Part Two Earnings Manipulation Shenanigans

3 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 1: Recording Revenue Too Soon

4 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 2: Recording Bogus Revenue

5 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 3: Boosting Income Using One-Time or Unsustainable Activities

6 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 4: Shifting Current Expenses to a Later Period

7 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 5: Employing Other Techniques to Hide Expenses or Losses

8 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 6: Shifting Current Income to a Later Period

9 Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 7: Shifting Future Expenses to the Current Period

Part Three Cash Flow Shenanigans

10 Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 1: Shifting Financing Cash Inflows to the Operating Section

11 Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 2: Moving Operating Cash Outflows to Other Sections

12 Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 3: Boosting Operating Cash Flow Using Unsustainable Activities

Part Four Key Metric Shenanigans

13 Key Metric Shenanigan No. 1: Showcasing Misleading Metrics That Overstate Performance

14 Key Metric Shenanigan No. 2: Distorting Balance Sheet Metrics to Avoid Showing Deterioration

Part Five Acquisition Accounting Shenanigans

15 Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 1: Artificially Boosting Revenue and Earnings

16 Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 2: Inflating Reported Cash Flow

17 Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 3: Manipulating Key Metrics

Part Six Putting It All Together

18 The Unraveling

19 The Forensic Mindset

Index

Acknowledgments.