We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
In a few days, printed copies of the two books in my Tragedy of Fraud series will be available in print at Amazon.
(Update: Available now.)
They are currently available in e-book format at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iTunes store. Continue reading “Tragedy of Fraud series available soon in print”
Now available at Amazon:
Tragedy of Fraud – Insider Trading Edition: The fall from Big 4 audit partner to prison inmate.
Until April 2013, former KPMG audit partner Scott London was in charge of the audit practice for the southwest region. He was responsible for the audit work of 500 accountants and had the paycheck to go with those duties.
Today he is a prison inmate residing at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California serving a 14 month sentence.
Continue reading “Tragedy of Fraud – Insider Trading Edition available at Amazon”
Debut appearance of the cover, hot off the digital press:
My newest book is in the last stages of editing. Hope to move into conversion to e-book format soon. Will be released in the next couple of weeks.
As you may know if you browse my other blogs, I’ve been following the story of Scott London closely on Attestation Update. Mr. London was the partner at international accounting firm KPMG in charge of the audit practice for the southwest region of the U.S.
He was caught passing inside information to his golf buddy. When confronted, he quickly confessed and plead guilty. He received a fourteen month jail sentence and is now a prison inmate at the Taft Correctional Institution.
You can now read of his journey from the lofty world of senior leadership to prison inmate in this book. The dozens of blog posts covering the story have been combined in chronological order instead of being spread all over the blog in reverse chronology. The posts have been edited slightly and the sequence changed a bit.
Available soon
The story of Mr. London’s fall will soon be available on your phone, e-reader, tablet, or other reading platform of choice. Will be available at the Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes stores.
Print copy will be available at Amazon soon after the electronic version is published.
You want to boil down hundreds of pages from several books? I came across one sentence that does a good job:
…poverty is a symptom— of the absence of a workable economy built on credible political, social, and legal institutions.
I’ve been reading a lot of economics books lately. (Okay, okay, you can pray for me – a CPA reading economics books for relaxation and learning and growth.)
(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
If we can figure out how we on this planet have gotten to the place where we have the highest wealth, best health, and longest life expectancy in history, we can keep going on the same path. Likewise, we can maybe figure out how to bring along those people groups that don’t share in the abundant bounty.
Here is the ache in many hearts: How do we ‘solve’ poverty and suffering?
Continue reading “How to summarize half a dozen developmental economics books in one sentence”
Print copy and Nook e-book are in addition to availability for the Kindle and another half-dozen formats.
The book is an intentionally short read at about 30 pages. The print copy has 20 pages of text. Focus is to quickly describe the differences between those levels of services using three illustrations: Continue reading “Newest book on differences between audits, reviews, and compilations now available in print and for Nook”
Audit. Review. Compilation. What’s the difference? – Illustrations using a football game, buying a used car, and filling a bucket.
What’s the difference between getting an audit, review, or compilation from your CPA firm? This short, 29 page book will help you understand.
Three illustrations help explain the differences: Continue reading ““Audit. Review. Compilation. What’s the difference?” – New book now available.”
The rules for work have radically changed. The work world that existed when you started college, even if you graduated this spring, is gone. (Cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update.)
If you are working, you need to take charge of your career and your reputation. This applies to brand new staff, experienced audit seniors, and especially partners. People at every level of employment need to absorb that lesson.
Jenna Goudreau summarizes 14 Rules of the New Marketplace That Millennials Need to Master at Business Insider. My only disagreement with her is that these rules apply to everyone at every level, not just millennials.
Price reduced to only $0.99, now available here.
“Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned” describes the tragic consequences from fraud.
There are ripple effects that spread out to harm innocent bystanders. The perpetrator draws a wide range of well-deserved wages that will be paid in full.
The book looks at two fraud incidents to learn what happens after a fraud is discovered. One took place in a local megachurch and the other in the mayor’s office of a small city.
This book is a compilation of blogs posts that have been previously published at Nonprofit Update and Attestation Update. The posts have been edited slightly and reorganized for easier reading.
Major sections of the book:
The other book I have available at Amazon is Once Upon Internal Control.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Freedom Is Moral)
“[…] many of the financial institutions that contributed to the problem were crony capitalist. Business leaders can have confidence in the working of free markets. It is government interference in markets that they should fear.”
John A. Allison
That’s the opening quote in Pablo Paniagua’s review of Mr. Allison’s book, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure: Why Pure Capitalism is the World Economy’s Only Hope
Mr. Allison was a long-serving CEO of BB&T Bank. He saw the interference of government in the banking industry up close and personal.
Those icky, greedy bankers and icky greedy Wall Street financiers played a role in our current mess, but minor compared to the interference and misdirection and forced distortions arising from various federal agencies.
An overview of the mess we are in:
Continue reading “Role of the government in generating the financial crisis”
(Cross-posted from my other blog, Attestation Update.)
“Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned” describes the tragic consequences from fraud.
There are ripple effects that spread out to harm innocent bystanders. The perpetrator draws a wide range of well-deserved wages that will be paid in full.
The book looks at two fraud incidents to learn what happens after a fraud is discovered. One took place in a local megachurch and the other in the mayor’s office of a small city.
The book closes with a discussion of the fraud triangle. That’s the idea that three components need to be present for a fraud to take place – opportunity, motivation, and rationalization. There are steps an organization can take to reduce those factors.
You can find the book at Amazon here.
This book is a compilation of blogs posts that have been previously published at Nonprofit Update and Attestation Update. The posts have been edited slightly and reorganized for easier reading.
Major sections of the book:
Continue reading ““Tragedy of Fraud” e-book now available at Amazon”
(Cross posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned will be released soon in Kindle format. This is a compilation of blog posts about the damage caused by fraud. It will also discuss the fraud triangle.
The sections of the book are:
Continue reading “‘Tragedy of Fraud’ in e-book format – soon to be released”
Sometimes the change around us is grim, like having nine countries with nukes.
When the world had the U.S. and Soviet Union staring at each other with nuclear weapons, we focused clearly on the implications. Since the fall of the Soviet Union (which reduced the nuclear war risk, the conventional war risk, and the overall level of suffering & misery around the world) we’ve spent less time thinking about how nukes affect everything else.
That is a mistake, thinks Paul Bracken, in The Second Nuclear Age.
Continue reading “Another change around us that we ought to ponder is nuclear proliferation”
Dematerialization –stuff that used to take up physical space no longer needs physical space.
Matt Ridley summarizes a large component of the radical change surrounding us in terms of dematerialization. In his WSJ post, The Future Is So Bright, it’s Dematerializing, he says:
Continue reading “Another description of change taking place – dematerialization”
Great review by Michael Shermer – Defying the Doomsayers.
Just got my Kindle copy of the book and have started reading it. Superb. I previously mentioned this book.
Here’s a few examples of the pace of change.
Continue reading “WSJ review of Abundance – the future is better than you think”
A book to be released in February suggests that radical advances in technologies will improve the lives of everyone, especially the poor – Abundance – The future is better than you think.
Here’s a description from the book’s website:
In Abundance, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, infinite computing, ubiquitous broadband networks, digital manufacturing, nanomaterials, synthetic biology, and many other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous two hundred years. We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman, and child on the planet.
Continue reading “Our near future can be an era of abundance”