Financial Forensics / Forensic Finance and Careers in Forensic Finance

From the links:

• http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-forensics.asp#axzz1pbwTvZBG
• http://www.ehow.com/list_6927681_careers-forensic-finance.html

Definition --> 'Financial Forensics'
A field that combines criminal investigation skills with financial auditing skills to identify financial criminal activity coming from within or outside of an organization. Financial forensics may be used in prevention, detection and recovery activities to investigate terrorism and other criminal activity, provide oversight to private-sector and government organizations, and assess organizations' vulnerability to fraudulent activities.

More details:
Financial forensics is similar to forensic accounting, which utilizes accounting, auditing and investigative skills to analyze a company's financial statements for possible fraud in conjunction with anticipated or ongoing legal action. Forensic accountants may also work with government agencies, including tax authorities, to recover illegally obtained funds or help prosecute money laundering. Forensic accountants can also help companies design accounting and auditing systems to manage and reduce risk.

Role:
The primary role of the forensic accountant is to verify information found during a financial audit. When an audit takes place, a forensic accountant takes a close and careful look at all questionable transactions that took place. Forensic accountants use the art of forensic finance to collect information about potential white-collar crimes for private businesses and nonprofit organizations. In addition to helping organizations find corporate criminals in their midst, forensic accountants may also work for private individuals and estates, locating and recovering monies that have been illegally obtained by third parties. Many forensic accountants work at the highest levels of federal law enforcement including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Areas of Focus:
Some forensic accountants apply forensic finance to quotidian and normal scenarios in the financial world. This includes helping clients manage risk reduction by engaging in due diligence. These forensic accountants provide advice to their clients regarding transactions such as venture capital investments, acquisitions, mergers, bankruptcy proceedings and the purchase of corporate commodities. When crimes such as embezzlement, fraud, money laundering and a criminal lack of transparency or proper accounting procedures have occurred, the forensic accountant may also be called upon to present testimony as an expert witness in a court of law.

Qualifications:
Forensic finance requires training; a bachelor's degree is required. A master's degree and status as a Certified Public Accountant makes the task of finding employment easier. Those who already have a CPA may find it useful to obtain status as a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Future Prospects:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act provided for growth in the field of forensic finance. The law, drafted in response to accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom, called for greater transparency and stricter regulation of accounting. As such, it created growth in the field. As of 2010, rookies in the field can expect to earn between $30,000 and $60,000 per year. Experienced professionals may earn upwards of $150,000 a year and beyond.

How the Stock Market Works - 9 minute Animation / Cartoon explains the concept in simple words. Must Watch.

This old but funny video explains basics of how companies go public and sell stock to investors - this is a basic necessity of the capitalist system and making our lives better. Good companies use our initial capital to create goods that are in demand. We have to remember the basic purpose of the stock market and that income investments are the best for the well being of society and the financial system.

Buying and selling stocks feverishly is inefficient and ineffective to build a healthy economy. That could lead to too much focus being placed on the stock price and hence could lead to risky measures to increase the price. As well, the casino / gambling nature of stock trading does not lead to increased productivity. If only more stocks were bought to genuinely support companies and grow with companies in the long term, in a mutually beneficial relationship to companies and stock owners, rather than stocks being bought for the short term, only to make a quick buck!

Accounting & Finance related courses offered by the Chang School of Ryerson University. It is a delicious menu filled with goodies (that you can pick and choose) at very affordable prices. I love the Chang School !

From the link: http://ce-online.ryerson.ca/ce/calendar/default.aspx?section=program&sub=cert&cert=GWIAFP00&mode=program

Some of the professional courses below are designed to provide students with necessary skills in Accounting, Finance, and Management.

CACC 110 Accounting: Financial Accounting for Accounting Majors
CACC 410 Accounting: Management Accounting for Accounting Majors
CACC 414 Accounting: Intermediate Accounting I
CACC 504 Accounting: Accounting Cases and Concepts I
CACC 514 Accounting: Intermediate Accounting II
CACC 522 Accounting: Taxation for Managers and Financial Planners
CACC 742 Accounting: Canadian Business Taxation I
CACC 842 Accounting: Canadian Business Taxation II
CECN 104 Economics: Introductory Microeconomics
CECN 204 Economics: Introductory Macroeconomics
CECN 506 Economics: Money and Banking
CFIN 300 Finance: Managerial Finance I
CFIN 401 Finance: Managerial Finance II
CFIN 501 Finance: Investment Analysis I
CFIN 502 Finance: Personal Financial Planning
CFIN 512 Finance: Risk Management and Insurance
CFIN 601 Finance: Investment Analysis II
CFIN 612 Finance: Retirement and Estate Planning
CFIN 812 Finance: Advanced Personal Financial Planning
CGMS 200 Global Management: Introduction to Global Management
CITM 102 Information Technology Management: Business Information Systems I
CITM 595 Information Technology Management: Auditing of Information Systems
CITM 696 Information Technology Management: Accounting Information Systems
CLAW 122 Law: Business Law
CLAW 603 Law: Advanced Business Law
CMHR 405 Human Resources: Organizational Behaviour and Interpersonal Skills
CMHR 523 Human Resources: Human Resources Management
CQMS 102 Quantitative Methods: Business Statistics I
CQMS 202 Quantitative Methods: Business Statistics II
CZAC 742 International Accounting Professionals (IAFP): Canadian Business Taxation I
CZAC 842 International Accounting Professionals (IAFP): Canadian Business Taxation II
CZAF 122 International Finance Professionals (IAFP): Business Law
CZAF 522 International Finance Professionals (IAFP): Tax for Financial Planners and Managers

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Notes:
Students may only take one of CACC 522 or CZAF 522.
Students may only take one of CACC 742 or CZAC 742. Those taking CACC 742 may opt to take supplemental course CACC 740.
Students may only take one of CACC 842 or CZAC 842. Those taking CACC 842 may opt to take supplemental course CACC 840.
Students may only take one of CLAW 122, CZAC 122, or CZAF 122. All students are required to take at least one of these three courses.
Students may only take one of CLAW 603 or CZAC 603. Those taking CLAW 603 may opt to take supplemental course CACC 640.

Complementary Courses (select at least two)

These courses are designed to assist students as they prepare for professional practice in a Canadian context

CZAC 110 International Accounting Professionals (IAFP): Career Development for Accounting Professionals
CZAC 200 International Accounting Professionals (IAFP): Prior Learning and Competency Portfolio
CZAF 110 International Finance Professionals (IAFP): Career Development for Financial Professionals
CZAF 200 International Finance Professionals (IAFP): Prior Learning and Competency Portfolio

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Notes:
Students may only take one of CZAC 110 or CZAF 110.
Students may only take one of CZAC 200 or CZAF 200.

Organizational Behaviour or OB - some random info. (HRM is a component of OB. But HR is not the same as OB. Different B-Schools have different approaches to the teaching of these subjects).

Some random links:

• http://www.apexcpe.com/publications/471001.pdf
• http://www.hbs.edu/research/facpubs/workingpapers/papers2/9798/98-115.pdf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_behavior

An Organization is defined as a collection of people who work together to achieve a wide variety of goals. Organizational Behavior is defined as the actions and attitudes of people in organizations. The field of organizational behavior (OB) covers the body of knowledge derived from these actions and attitudes. It can help managers understand the complexity within organizations, identify problems, determine the best ways to correct them, and establish whether the changes would make a significant difference.


Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals,groups and structures have on behavior within an organization.It is an interdisciplinary field that includes sociology, psychology, communication, and management; and it complements the academic studies of organizational theory (which is more Macro-level) and human resource studies (which is more applied and business-related). It may also be referred to as organizational studies or organizational science. The field has its roots in industrial and organizational psychology.


Organizational studies is a fragmented field. Its foundations are from the disciplines:

• Psychology, Sociology &, Economics as well as
• Applied fields like Industrial Psychology, Labour Relations, Human Resource Management, Organizational Development & Management.

Each field of inquiry focuses on different phenomena, employs different research methods and makes different assumptions about the nature of people and about organizations and their purpose in society. This diversity has prevented the emergence of a common language or theory of Organizations (Pfeffer, 1997). 

The Meaning of Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, how human behavior interacts with the organization, and the organization itself. Although we can focus on any one of these three areas independently, we must remember that all three are ultimately connected and necessary for a comprehensive understanding of organizational behavior. For example, we can study individual behavior (such as the behavior of a company’s CEO or of one of its employees) without explicitly considering the organization. But because the organization influences and is influenced by the individual, we cannot fully understand the individual’s behavior without knowing something about the organization. Similarly, we can study an organization without focusing specifically on each individual within it. But again, we are looking at only one piece of the puzzle. Eventually, we must consider the other pieces to understand the whole.

A "Organizational Behaviour" joke :)

Megastructures: Airbus A380 Design & Manufacture ---> A fine example of successful coordination of Industrial Design, Financial Planning, Project Management, Supply Chain Management / Operations Management (apart from General Management, including all disciplines - HR, Marketing etc).

#Book-Review: "Crime Signals: How to Spot a Criminal Before You Become a Victim"

This book comes highly recommended by our Professor for Corporate Finance, to increase awareness.

The reason this book is useful is that there is discussion about use of anthropology to detect signals in a person that may indicate crime in the future. The same concept can be applied to Corporations to detect potential crime, the signs of which may not be visible / recognizable by everyone. Only the experts can sense that something is wrong. Forensic Accounting and Forensic Finance can help detect signals, just like human beings can detect body language that may indicate potential crime. I decided to take a look at the reviews online. Here below, is one book review.  

From the link: http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/01/24/74915-book-review-crime-signals-how-to-spot-a-criminal-before-you-become-a-victim/

By David Givens, Ph.D. (St. Martin’s Press, $24.95)

Givens, who decoded the body language of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein for the Department of Defense, has written a book that is an essential tool for warding off crime and protecting us against people who want to harm us.

Almost no crimes are committed without some external clues beforehand. Keeping yourself safe is generally a matter of learning how to spot certain danger signs and – when you do – removing yourself from harm’s way. Though many criminals are accomplished liars, very few are capable of truly concealing their intentions. The secret is learning to detect the signs and being more conscious of what is happening in your immediate surroundings.

According to Givens, the telltale signs include the tensing of lips, which can indicate deceptiveness, the touching of one’s own body or face, which can often be a signal that someone is lying and clenching of the jaw and “flashbulb eyes,” all suggesting that someone is on the verge of an attack.

Filled with fascinating real-life stories of crime and survival, “Crime Signals” is a highly informative book that will help us read a stranger’s body language so that we can eliminate many of the harmful situations that are, unfortunately, more and more common in the dangerous society in which we live. In the criminal world, nonverbal signs, signals and cues speak louder than words, and many of the survival tips in this book should help many of us feel more secure and safe in our daily lives.

Grade: B