Fool me Once

As the book, Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry, points out, 

"Where there are people, there is fraud." 


As this Forbes article, 22 years after the $63 billion Enron collapse, a key audit review board finds the industry in a ‘completely unacceptable’ state, point out; audit is out of control and the situation is "completely unacceptable" per the PCAOB.

Here is the statement by Chair Erica Williams on the "Rise in Audit Deficiency Rates.  Here is the PCAOB 2023 staff report on inspection observations.

The volume and complexity of information associated financial reporting and financial auditing is mismatched with the tools available to accountants and auditors.  I have shown the possibility of more modern and professional tools, tools that are more appropriate for the information age.  All this is going to get worse before it gets better.  I have built some working prototypes of such such tools like this XBRL-based working trial balance.

I am not saying that XBRL-based accounting schedules and auditing working papers are "the solution" to the problem that exists; but I am saying it seems like it could be part of the solution.

Fraudsters have their "measures" and the audit industry needs to come up with "counter measures" in order to keep things in proper balance.  Well, we seems like we are out of balance with respect to audit.

What do you think the solution to this problem is?  The Great Transmutation of Financial Accounting, Reporting, Auditing, and Analysis provides information that will help you get your head around what is going on.

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