Accounting fraud

One of the more intriguing questions stemming from the Toshiba Corp. accounting scandal is this: Where was the whistleblower?

Toshiba Corp. issued almost 1 trillion yen ($8 billion) of stocks and bonds when it was inflating earnings statements, leaving the company exposed to possible regulatory fines and investor lawsuits.

Toshiba Corp. President Hisao Tanaka and his two predecessors quit after investigators found that the Japanese conglomerate inflated earnings by at least $1.2 billion since the global financial crisis.

An accountant who helped Bernard Madoff fudge trading records to cover up fraudulent transactions in the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history won’t be going to prison.

The U.K. Financial Reporting Council is investigating former employees of RSA Insurance Group Plc’s Irish unit regarding accounting irregularities in 2012.

Noble Group Ltd. appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP to review how it values some of its assets after criticism of the Asian trading company’s accounting practices.

The American Accounting Association has retracted 25 articles written or co-authored by a former accounting professor who was forced to resign after his university uncovered a “pattern of misconduct.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of a Connecticut accounting firm Tuesday and seized documents in connection with a fraud complaint.

Asia’s largest commodity trader Noble Group Ltd. took on its critics with an open letter defending its accounting methods and valuations of a coal asset.

I’ve worked to identify vendor risk and help companies prevent fraud as a certified fraud examiner for almost 10 years, and it’s given me a unique perspective on how fraud is perpetrated. The fact is, it’s easier for someone to “turn to the dark side” and decide to commit corporate fraud than you may think. Here’s what they could do.