Fraud in the Markets: Why it Happens and How to Fight It
By Peter D. Goldmann
Fraud and corruption have always been components of American culture. However, as statistics and the personal experiences of many Americans confirm, fraud, corruption and ethical misconduct was not as prevalent in the 1970's and early 1980's as it is now.
If you are looking for a historical perspective on what brought on the financial collapse of in the last part of the decade then this is the book to read. Peter Goldmann sets the stage with a brief history of fraud in the financial sector going back to the early bank frauds, the Great Depression and savings and loans. A picture emerges and he goes on to describe the 'fraud culture', good guys/bad guys, the fraud triangle and the emergence of the professional associations focusing on fraud issues. A chapter is devoted to the political structure including regulation which helped contribute to the situation. The rest of the book covers each of the modern day financial services fraud scenarios. The author provides his insight into each of the failures in the financial system.
If you are an auditor in the financial services sector then this is a must read for you to understand where we are today. For the rest of the audit community this is an interesting topic which will give you a better appreciation of what can and will go wrong within public and private organizations that choose not to establish controls for detecting and preventing fraud.
Peter Goldmann will lead a Webinar on Auditing for Fraud in Accounts Payable, Wed., January 22, 2011, 2PM-3:15PM, Eastern. To sign up for this and other fraud related webinars go to http://www.auditnet.org/fastpack.htm
JMK 2010