Dr. Howard Schilit is a pioneer in the field of detecting accounting tricks in corporate financial reports that mislead investors. He is the author of Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports, now in its 3rd Edition. Howard was the founder and CEO of CFRA, a global forensic accounting research organization. He has been a leading spokesman before the US Congress, the SEC, and global media outlets about the causes and early warning signs of accounting tricks in public filings. Dr. Schilit began his career as an Associate Professor of Accounting at American University and continues to teach and lecture all over the world. Dr. Schilit holds his doctorate in Accounting from the University of Maryland.

Preface: Reflections on My Last 25 Years

Part One: Establishing the Foundation

Chapter 1: 25 Years of Shenanigans

Chapter 2: Just Touch Up the X-Rays

Part Two: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigans

Chapter 3: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 1: Recording Revenue Too Soon

Chapter 4: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 2: Recording Bogus Revenue

Chapter 5: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 3: Boosting Income with One-Time or Unsustainable Activities

Chapter 6: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 4: Shifting Current Expenses to a Later Period

Chapter 7: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 5: Employing Other Techniques to Hide Expenses or Losses

Chapter 8: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 6: Shifting Current Income to a Later Period

Chapter 9: Earnings Manipulation Shenanigan No. 7: Shifting Future Expenses to the Current Period

Part Three: Cash Flow Shenanigans

Chapter 10: Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 1: Shifting Financing Cash Inflows to the Operating Section

Chapter 11: Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 2: Moving Operating Cash Outflows to Other Sections

Chapter 12: Cash Flow Shenanigan No. 3: Boosting Operating Cash Flow Using Unsustainable Activities

Part Four: Key Metrics Shenanigans

Chapter 13: Key Metric Shenanigan No. 1: Showcasing Misleading Metrics that Overstate Performance

Chapter 14: Key Metric Shenanigan No. 2: Distorting Balance Sheet Metrics to Avoid Showing Deterioration

Part Five: Acquisition Accounting Shenanigans

Chapter 15: Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 1: Artificially Boosting Revenue and Earnings

Chapter 16: Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 2: Inflating Reported Cash Flow

Chapter 17: Acquisition Accounting Shenanigan No. 3: Manipulating Key Metrics

Part Six: Putting it all Together

Chapter 18: The Unraveling

Chapter 19: The Forensic Mindset

Index

Acknowledgments