• Interviews in Fraud Investigations

    Interviewing witnesses and suspects is a critical part of any fraud investigation. There are tons of resources out there to help fraud investigators learn how to be effective interviews. There are books, videos, courses, and certifications.  I’m going to quickly […]

  • Judgment of Management and Financial Statement Fraud

    With thousands of detailed accounting rules, how can there be financial statement fraud? There are areas of the financial statements that rely heavily on the judgment of management. They make estimates and decide how to apply the accounting rules. This […]

  • Rebuttal Reports in Divorce Lifestyle Analysis

    While a financial expert may be retained to proactively complete a lifestyle analysis in a divorce case, one might also be retained to do a rebuttal report focused on the analysis of an expert retained by opposing counsel. The process […]

  • Things I Have Learned About Fraud

    After more than 25 years conducting fraud investigations, I have learned a lot about fraudsters, their methods, and the companies they work for. Hotlines cut fraud losses in half. Anonymous reporting mechanisms like fraud hotlines decrease the cost of internal […]

  • Surviving a Tax Audit

    Income tax audits are intimidating whether you are being audited personally or as a business owner. There is a right way and a wrong way to handle an audit by a state or federal taxing authority. It is easy to […]

  • Claimed Income Versus Documented Income in Divorce

    Child support, spousal support, and property division are often evaluated in light of the income of the each of the parties to a divorce.The parties fill out financial disclosure forms and purport to tell the court and the spouse the […]

  • Consulting Or Testifying In Divorce Cases

    A financial professional can fill two distinct roles in family law cases. He or she can be a consultant who provides analysis and opinions privately to the attorney and client. The consulting expert’s work and conclusions are not intended to […]

  • Financial Statement Fraud: Overstatement of Revenue

    By far the most common way that executives manipulate financial statements is through the overstatement of revenue. The reason is simple: It’s the easiest way to improve the appearance of the company’s financial condition. Revenue can be inflated by doing […]

  • Standard of Living in Divorce

    In a typical divorce with one or both of the spouses having traditional jobs and earning middle to upper class wages, the calculation of alimony and child support are pretty easy. States have charts or standard percentages that are applied […]

  • Are There Good MLMs?

    Defenders of multi-level marketing (MLM) will tell you that some companies “do it” right, while some companies “do it” wrong. The fact that a multi-level marketing company like Mary Kay Cosmetics has been around for more than 55 years does […]