Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide by Tracy L. Coenen
Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide
Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide by Tracy L. Coenen | Book Review Recommended by Miles Mason, Sr. JD, CPA
As a practicing attorney and CPA, I litigate cases requiring financial investigations. I have also taught many forensic accountants in various seminars across the country. I learned a lot from Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide. It takes a very practical look at financial investigations. Expert Fraud Investigation is geared toward those who want to learn how to do better investigations, but there was still plenty of useful information for me to dig into. The book moves through the process of a financial investigation logically, providing guidance and checklists each step of the way.
Particularly useful were the parts of the book on Sources of Information and Investigative Techniques. These chapters walk the fraud investigator through documents and issues that should be considered, suggesting information sources, methods for gathering the documents and details, and use of the data.
Four chapters are devoted to accounting investigations, detailing the most common schemes and techniques for unraveling the web of financial transactions. Again, the information is kept practical, allowing the reader to benefit from the author’s decades of experience.
Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide is one of the most comprehensive guides to fraud examinations I have read. Accountants, auditors, attorneys, and experienced fraud investigators can benefit from this no-nonsense resource.
Tracy Coenen, CPA, CFF is a forensic accountant and fraud examiner in Chicago and Milwaukee who handles family law matters, complex divorces, and investigates white-collar crimes, including cases of financial statement fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and insurance fraud. To learn more about her practice, see her web sites DivorceInvestigation.com and SequenceInc.com. Tracy is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud (Wiley, 2008), Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide (Wiley, 2009), and Lead Author of The CPA’s Handbook of Fraud and Commercial Crime Prevention (AICPA, 2009-2012).
Memphis divorce lawyer, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA practices family law exclusively and is founder of the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC, in Memphis, Tennessee. He authored The Forensic Accounting Deskbook: A Practical Guide to Financial Investigation and Analysis for Family Lawyers, published by the American Bar Association. Miles is past Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Family Law Section and is a prolific author and public speaker on divorce trial practice presenting seminars to attorneys, forensic accountants, and business valuation experts. For more information, see www.MemphisDivorce.com.
