Examines how whole organisations behave when fraud and corruption occur, exploring the interactions between perpetrators, victims and bystanders. Provides insights on training and motivating employees to reduce the occurrence and threat of fraud. Includes reference to real life cases.

Accountants have historically had an important role in the detection and deterrence of fraud. As Joe Wells’ Principles of Fraud Examination 4th edition illustrates, fraud is much more than numbers; books and records don’t commit fraud – people do. Widely embraced by fraud examination instructors across the country, Principles of Fraud Examination, 4th Edition, by Joseph Wells, is written to provide a broad understanding of fraud to today’s accounting students – what it is and how it is committed, prevented, detected, and resolved. This 4th edition of the text includes a chapter on frauds perpetrated against organizations by individuals outside their staff—a growing threat for many entities as commerce increasingly crosses technological and geographical borders.

A fraud investigation is aimed at examining evidence to determine if a fraud occurred, how it happened, who was involved, and how much money was lost. Investigations occur in cases ranging from embezzlement, to falsification of financial statements, to suspicious insurance claims. Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide provides all the tools to conduct a fraud investigation, detailing when and how to investigate. This guide takes the professional from the point of opening an investigation, selecting a team, gathering data, and through the entire investigation process. Business executives, auditors, and security professionals will benefit from this book, and companies will find this a useful tool for fighting fraud within their own organizations.

"If you don't think that some employees have figured out ingenious ways to steal from businesses, read this book. The real-life examples will change your mind." Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, founder and Chairman, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners "An easy-to-read, but comprehensive step-by-step approach that covers every potential area for employee fraud and embezzlement. Great checklists at the end of each chapter show what steps to put into place for controls and protection. Includes real-life examples that really 'bring the story home.' " Jean L. Conover, CPA, past CEO/CFO, Jefferson Radiology PC "This book is a must-read for seasoned entrepreneurs as well as those considering entering their own business venture. While developed for small business, the risk detection and prevention methodologies presented by Mr. Pedneault are universal to all businesses. The concise checklists provide ready guidance for establishing a complete system of controls." Denise H. Armstrong, CPA, Chief Financial Officer, Sea Research Foundation, Inc. d/b/a Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration "This book is a must for every individual owning their own business. Mr. Pedneault clearly articulates the fraud risks that occur in each business system. In the book, he offers practical advice for internal controls and illustrates the risks with real-life examples." Leonard W. Vona, President, Fraud Auditing, Inc.

In 2009, high-profile fraud cases like the Ponzi schemes of Bernard Madoff and Arthur Nadel vividly illustrated the harm done to investors who placed their trust in these apparently successful money managers and then discovered their money had never been invested at all. News stories featured 90-year-olds forced by necessity to work in supermarkets, elderly people losing their homes because their life savings were gone, and wealthy retirees suddenly unable to pay their electricity bills. Charities were forced to curtail their services, lay off staff, and even close their doors forever as their funds evaporated. Almost every day, there are stories in the media about dishonest employees who have robbed their organisations of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not so well-publicised are the countless smaller thefts occurring every day from cash registers, warehouses, and business bank accounts. Sadly, the organisations that have the most to lose small businesses, family-run companies, churches, and charities are often the most vulnerable because of their size and inexperience. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, accounting fraud cost over $994 billion in 2008, and the average organisation lost 7 percent of its total revenue to fraud. How can you prevent this from happening to you as an investor, business owner, or a person attempting to acquire or merge with another firm? Read this book and you will be able to understand, detect, and avoid accounting fraud. You will learn how to identify fraud, how to spot minor abnormalities that may hide fraud, how to spot forgeries, and how to prove your case, as well as what to immediately suspect and methods for uncovering scams. You will know what signs to look for, including excessive turnover of lawyers and auditors, changing professionals in the middle of a transaction, inconsistent information, and significant declines in stock prices. In addition, you will know how to recognise the common manoeuvres, earnings manipulation, premature and fictitious revenue, overvalued assets, undervalued liabilities, bogus revenue, expenses that have been shifted to another period, overstating revenues, understating expenses, and the misuse and misdirecting of funds. This new book is filled with studies and discussions of fraud cases and how they could have been avoided, checklists for detecting accounts misdeeds, and advice from analysts, CFOs, and CPAs. This manual will be an indispensable aid for serious investors, industry pros, acquisition and merger managers, and small business owners alike. After reading this book you will no longer have to worry about accounting fraud and you can increase your company's profits.

Get practical insights on the psychology of white-collar criminals—and how to outsmart them Understand how the psychologies of fraudsters and their victims interact as well as what makes auditors/investigators/regulators let down their guard. Learn about the psychology of fraud victims, including boards of directors and senior management, and what makes them want to believe fraudsters, and therefore making them particularly vulnerable to deception. Just as IT experts gave us computer forensics, we now have a uniquely qualified team immersed in psychology, sociology, psychiatry as well as accounting and auditing, introducing the emerging field of behavioral forensics to address the phenomenon of fraud. Ever wonder what makes a white-collar criminal tick? Why does she or he do what they do? For the first time ever, see the mind of the fraudster laid bare, including their sometimes twisted rationalizations; think like a crook to catch a crook! The A.B.C.'s of Behavioral Forensics takes you there, with expert advice from a diverse but highly specialized authoring team of professionals (three out of the four are Certified Fraud Examiners): a former accounting firm partner who has a PhD in psychology, a former FBI special agent who has been with investigative practices of two of the Big Four firms, an industrial psychiatrist who has worked closely with the C-level suite of large and small companies, and an accounting professor who has interviewed numerous convicted felons. Along with a fascinating exploration of what makes people fall for the common and not-so-common swindles, the book provides a sweeping characterization of the ecology of fraud using The A.B.C.'s of Behavioral Forensics paradigm: the bad Apple (rogue executive), the bad Bushel (groups that collude and behave like gangs), and the bad Crop (representing organization-wide or even societally-sanctioned cultures that are toxic and corrosive). The book will make you take a longer look when hiring new employees and offers a deeper more complex understanding of what happens in organizations and in their people. The A.B.C. model will also help those inside and outside organizations inoculate against fraud and make you reflect on instilling the core values of your organization among your people and create a culture of excellence and integrity that acts as a prophylactic against fraud. Ultimately, you will discover that, used wisely, behavioral methods trump solely economic incentives. With business fraud on the rise globally, The A.B.C.'s of Behavioral Forensics is the must-have book for investigators, auditors, the C-suite and risk management professionals, the boards of directors, regulators, and HR professionals. Examines the psychology of fraud in a practical way, relating it to aspects of fraud prevention, deterrence, detection, and remediation Helps you understand that trust violation—the essence of fraud—is a betrayal of behavioral assumptions about "trusted" people Explains how good people go bad and how otherwise honest people cross the line Underscores the importance of creating a culture of excellence and integrity that inoculates an organization from fraud risk (i.e., honest behavior pays, while dishonesty is frowned upon) Provides key takeaways on what to look for when hiring new employees and in your current employees, as well as creating and maintaining a culture of control consciousness Includes narrative accounts of interviews with convicted white-collar criminals, as well as interpretive insights and analysis of their rationalizations Furnishes ideas about how to enhance professional skepticism, how to resist fraudsters, how to see through their schemes, how to infuse internal controls with the people/behavioral element, and make them more effective in addressing behavioral/integrity risks Provides a solid foundation for training programs across the fraud risk management life cycle all the way from the discovery of fraud to its investigation as well as remediation (so the same fraud doesn't happen again) Enables auditors/investigators to engage in self-reflection and avoid cognitive and emotional biases and traps that lead to professional judgment errors (e.g., overconfidence, confirmation, self-deception, groupthink, halo effect, availability, speed-accuracy trade-off, etc.) Ever since the accounting scandals surrounding Enron and WorldCom surfaced, leading to the passage of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, as well as the continuing fall out from the Wall Street financial crisis precipitating the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, fraud has been a leading concern for executives globally. If you thought you knew everything there was to know about financial fraud, think again. Get the real scoop with The A.B.C.'s of Behavioral Forensics.