The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the continued upsurge in highly publicized allegations of accounting irregularities and fraudulent financial reporting have shaken up the corporate community and have been the impetus for closer scrutiny by the SEC. Accounting Irregularities and Financial Fraud: A Corporate Governance Guide provides a step-by-step guide to the crises enveloping a company in the wake of fraudulent financial reporting--and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

It is directed to almost everybody involved: outside directors, audit committee members, senior executives, CFOs, CPAs, in-house lawyers, and outside law firms. It discusses the corporate environment that causes fraudulent financial reporting, how it spreads, the kinds of crises it can create for a company, and the best way to deal with them.

All relevant material is covered, including:

                     SEC Initiatives

                     Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Corporate Audit Committees

                     Due Diligence

                     Real-World Instances of Financial Fraud

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:  The Origin of Financial Fraud 

Chapter 2:  So Who Gets the Blame? 

Chapter 3:  The Immediate Aftermath 

Chapter 4:  Getting New Audited Financial Statements 

Chapter 5:  Digging Out the Fraud: The Lawyers 

Chapter 6:  Digging Out the Fraud: The Forensic Accountants 

Chapter 7:  Class Action Lawsuits 

Chapter 8:  Dealing with the D&O Insurer 

Chapter 9:  Dealing with the Regulators 

Chapter 10:  Criminal Investigations 

Chapter 11:  What's an Audit Committee to Do? 

Chapter 12:  Due Diligence 

Chapter 13:  Accounting Irregularities and the Future of Financial Reporting