Praise for The Financial Numbers Game "So much for the notion 'those who can, do-those who can't, teach.' Mulford and Comiskey function successfully both as college professors and real-world financial mercenaries. These guys know their balance sheets. The Financial Numbers Game should serve as a survival manual for both serious individual investors and industry pros who study and act upon the interpretation of financial statements. This unique blend of battle-earned scholarship and quality writing is a must-read/must-have reference for serious financial statement analysis." --Bob Acker, Editor/Publisher, The Acker Letter "Wall Street's unforgiving attention to quarterly earnings presents ever increasing pressure on CFOs to manage earnings and expectations. The Financial Numbers Game provides a clear explanation of the ways in which management can stretch, bend, and break accounting rules to reach the desired bottom line. This arms the serious investor or financial analyst with the healthy skepticism required to drive beyond reported results to a clear understanding of a firm's true performance." --Mark Hurley, Managing Director, Training and Development, Global Corporate and Investment Banking, Bank of America "After reading The Financial Numbers Game, I feel as though I've taken a master's level course in financial statement analysis. Mulford and Comiskey's latest book should be required reading for anyone who is serious about fundamentally analyzing stocks." --Harry Domash, San Francisco Chronicle investing columnist and investment newsletter publisher

Business scandals are always with us from the South Sea Bubble to Enron and Parmalat. As accounting forms a central element of any business success or failure, the role of accounting is crucial in understanding business scandals. This book aims to explore the role of accounting, particularly creative accounting and fraud, in business scandals. The book is divided into three parts. In Part A the background and context of creative accounting and fraud is explored. Part B looks at a series of international accounting scandals and Part C draws some themes and implications from the country studies.

Contemporary Issues in Accounting Regulation looks at accounting regulation in a different way. The opening chapters explore the tension between the power of the state and the forces of the market, and other aspects of the political dimension to accounting regulation. The book also examines the process of setting accounting standards, highlighting the crucial role of standard setters in assessing the level of public support for an issue in the face of opposing positions taken by powerful interest groups. In addition, the book provides an introduction to the theoretical framework of accounting regulation, looking at choices between controversial accounting methods and at markets that are characterized by asymmetry of information and beliefs. The final chapters of the book are concerned with creative accounting, deregulation of financial reporting by smaller companies, and the link between price regulation and accounting policy choices.

Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Uncover hidden fraud and red flags using efficient data analytics Fraud Data Analytics Methodology addresses the need for clear, reliable fraud detection with a solid framework for a robust data analytic plan. By combining fraud risk assessment and fraud data analytics, you'll be able to better identify and respond to the risk of fraud in your audits. Proven techniques help you identify signs of fraud hidden deep within company databases, and strategic guidance demonstrates how to build data interrogation search routines into your fraud risk assessment to locate red flags and fraudulent transactions. These methodologies require no advanced software skills, and are easily implemented and integrated into any existing audit program. Professional standards now require all audits to include data analytics, and this informative guide shows you how to leverage this critical tool for recognizing fraud in today's core business systems. Fraud cannot be detected through audit unless the sample contains a fraudulent transaction. This book explores methodologies that allow you to locate transactions that should undergo audit testing. Locate hidden signs of fraud Build a holistic fraud data analytic plan Identify red flags that lead to fraudulent transactions Build efficient data interrogation into your audit plan Incorporating data analytics into your audit program is not about reinventing the wheel. A good auditor must make use of every tool available, and recent advances in analytics have made it accessible to everyone, at any level of IT proficiency. When the old methods are no longer sufficient, new tools are often the boost that brings exceptional results. Fraud Data Analytics Methodology gets you up to speed, with a brand new tool box for fraud detection.

The authors challenge widespread beliefs that business accounting practices are neutral and involve the mere reporting of objective data, revealing how easily balance sheets can be manipulated.