A life of fraud
Every time we at New Products steal a paper clip or block of Post-Its from the office, we wonder what our lives would be like if we were big-time corporate fraudsters. The main thing that keeps us from going over to the dark side is the certain knowledge that someone would catch us - most likely someone who's been trained by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
The ACFE is one of the premier organizations fighting the good fight, and their publications are often considered the industry standard. Their flagship, the 2005 Fraud Examiners Manual, is a massive, 2,000-page reference on everything you need to know about detecting, investigating and preventing fraud - or committing it.
The 2005 U.S. edition (there are also editions for Canada and the U.K.) includes new and updated information on Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, internal controls, money-laundering rules, identity theft and much more.
For a closer look at various angles of the world of fraud, the ACFE publishes The Computer and Internet Fraud Manual, which delves deeply into this rapidly expanding field, and The Small Business Fraud Prevention Manual, which offers a wealth of advice for those business most exposed to fraud - and least able to afford it.
Price: Fraud Examiners Manual - print, $139 for ACFE members and $219 for nonmembers; CD-ROM, $59/$139; CD-ROM and print, $159/$279. Computer and Internet Fraud - $49/$59. Small Business Fraud Prevention - $39/$59.
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
www.cfenet.com
Everything EDGAR
The Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR filing system is that rare thing - a government initiative that's actually useful and efficient. That doesn't mean that it's easy to use, which is why Bowne Financial Print's EDGAR in a Nutshell: A Guide to Electronic Filing is so handy: It provides an overview of the filing process, with details of basic filing issues, formats and procedures, fees and more. BFP, a large financial printer and a leading EDGAR filer, provides the guide for free. They also offer a complimentary calendar of filing dates for EDGAR and its Canadian cousin, SEDAR.
Price: Free. Available at Bowne offices, or for download at Web site.
Bowne Financial Print
www.bowne.com
Strategy and tactics
Marketing and selling are like strategy and tactics: The first gets you to the battle, the second helps you win. As in war, though, the two often overlap, as two recent books from John Wiley & Sons make clear. The first, Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants: Breakthrough Tactics for Winning Profitable Clients, by consultants Jay Conrad Levinson and Michael W. McLaughlin, notes the many changes in attitude arising among clients over the last 20 years - most of which are not positive - and shows how to get around them with a variety of different marketing plans and advice on the way buying patterns for services have changed.
The second, Power Up Your Profits: 31 Days to Better Selling, by frequent Accounting Today contributor Troy Waugh, is written specifically for CPAs, to show them how to combine the natural trust that the public places in them with the power of persuasion to boost business. His main thesis, bolstered by real-world examples, is that you want to focus on being a CPA who can sell - not a salesman who just happens to flog accounting services.
Price: Guerrilla Marketing - $19.95; Power Up Your Profits - $39.95.
John Wiley & Sons
www.wiley.com
(800) 225-5945
Small business help
Small publisher Nolo focuses on do-it-yourself legal and business solutions, including two recent releases that may be of interest to your small and midsized business clients, and even your own firm. The first, Tax Savvy for Small Business, describes the latest tax breaks, rules, forms and publications, including a list of the best business deductions out there. Written by tax law attorney Frederick W. Daily, it even gets into the tax ramifications of the various kinds of business ownership structures, from corporations and partnerships to limited liability companies and sole proprietorships.
The second book, How to Run a Thriving Business, is written by someone who knows how: Nolo founder Ralph Warner. With three decades of success proving that he knows whereof he speaks, Warren shares valuable tips on the long haul of making your business work, and debunks a number of annoying myths.
Price: Tax Savvy for Small Business - $36.99; How to Run a Thriving Business - $19.99.
Nolo
www.nolo.com
(510) 549-1976
Send your product news to Daniel Hood at daniel.hood
