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| JANUARY 18, 2008 | ||
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This Issue's News Theme: FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, DISASTER RECOVERY, BUSINESS CONTINGENCY PLANS |
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My life in crime: Chronicles of a forensic accountant The profession of forensic accounting is like any other industry niche: You evolve to a plateau where track record and honed skills permit you to hold yourself out as a professional. Then, like any other business, you starve a lot before you become an overnight sensation - in demand and truly at the top of your practice in providing value - both on scene and in the courtroom. Disaster recovery, backup, and restore: Big challenges for small businesses All too frequently, fires, local flooding, and human error threaten computer systems, communications, and the ability of a business of any size to sustain continuous operations. Small and medium sized businesses, accustomed to protecting inventory or paper records, are expected to invest more in "resilience and backup" in 2008 according to cio-midmarket.com. "Most are on the edge where a couple of bad events could shut down business," says Gary Chen an analyst at YankeeGroup. Auditing: Solving 10 problems implementing the NEW risk assessment standards Much has been written about the technical requirements of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 104-111, collectively called the Risk Assessment Standards (Risk Standards). So we'll focus on the 10 steps to effectively implement them. I'm an auditor, darn it, not an investigator, right? Recent professional guidance, such as SAS 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Auditing Standard 2, has brought more attention to the auditor's responsibility to uncover the warning signs of fraud, but there is still some ambiguity about where the auditor's responsibility ends and the fraud examiner's begins. New research provides resources on fraud prevention and financial reporting Financial Executives Research Foundation, the research affiliate of Financial Executives International, has announced the release of two important new pieces of research designed to aid public company management and corporate boards in the efficient evaluation of their assessment of reporting issues and internal controls. |
Hot Topics
Editor's NoteForensic accounting is hot, Hot, HOT. It's so hot, we've dedicated this Bi-Weekly Bullet to forensic accounting and related issues. Cybercrime is on the rise, new technologies
have promoted the acts of hiding numbers and switching records
to an art form. It takes a new breed of accountant to find the
crimes as well as ward them off in the first place. Is your
workplace secure? Are your clients' workplaces secure? Are you
prepared to deal with the consequences of what happens when
financial crime occurs? This issue's articles address the
challenges facing companies as well as the experiences of
accountants who are on the front lines in this growing arena.
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