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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2023
- Forensic accountant Kelly Richmond Pope explains how fraud runs rampant - even when businesses don’t intend it.
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"Accounting is like a superpower," says Kelly Richmond Pope.
As a forensic accounting expert, Pope understands how this power comes with significant responsibilities and potential pitfalls. The pressure from market expectations can sometimes drive companies to inflate their financial performance, creating a precarious ethical landscape for the accounts overseeing the company’s financial activity.
Pope highlights a key problem area: the mismatch between the money a company actually has (cash) and the money it records as earned (revenue). In the wrong hands, this system can be exploited, leading to serious legal consequences.
She emphasizes that accountants often face hard choices and must stand firm in their ethics to ensure transparency and fairness in business.
Read the video transcript ► bigthink.com/series/explain-i...
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About Kelly Richmond Pope:
Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope is the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Pope is a nationally recognized expert in risk, forensic accounting, and white-collar crime research, and an award-winning educator, researcher, author, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. She’s the author of Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion Dollar Fraud Industry (Harvard Business Review Press, March 2023). Pope teaches managerial and forensic accounting both at the undergraduate and graduate level.
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She definitely wins the award for the most charismatic accountant ever.
Na, that's just the feminine communication style. "I don't feel loved if I can't vent to you."
@@YouilAushananah there’s some boring ass female accountants too. This lady deserves her respect for not being one of those
Nah!!! Literally every accounting professor who’s good at their job in a business school talks like this.
First sentence will be related to, “I fell in love with accounting” and shit. CPAs who have a good clientele also talk like this.
Almost as watching How. To get away with murder.
ACCOUNTING IS THE MOST BORING PROFESSION ANYONE COULD PURSUE. THIS EXTREMELY BRILLIANT LADY WOULD Be BETTER OFF PURSUING ECONOMIICS OR OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES ..HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF A Very FAMOUS ACCOUNTANT ? ACCOUNTING IS MY PRESENT PROFESSION WHICH WAS IMPOSED ON ME BY MY MOM AND I REGRET PURSUITING IT. IT IS A DEAD END PROFESSION
She is making accounting sound more exciting than it really is 😅 I love her energy.
im not an accountant but i love excel.
@@lemonstrangler🤢 excel
It can be.
I hate accounting even I myself in finance and legal services haha I deal with legal compliances most of the time
She presented to my class during my Master's program. Great professor and you can tell she truly loves looking into fraud in both Gov and corporate environments
Eternal job security
@@chriswaters3442I know for a fact people were making that joke in Roman times. They have basically the same thing in a letter from the reign of Justinian.
Where was your Master’s program?
@@beautifuldaughter3308 Don't want to give the exact school since it was a really small master's program, but it was in Ohio at a state school. My professor was friends with her and she presented over zoom and talked with us for about 2 hours. Master's in Accountancy program so beforehand we actually did a case study on the fraud presented in All The Queen's Horses, a doc she did on a city controller that committed fraud
Really? @@UnsolicitedContext
A mentor one time told me that in the accounting field you have to be willing to have any day be the last day on a job. Be willing to walk away rather than commit a crime. That is true even if it means missing a mortgage payment or going without health insurance. You have to take a long view that missing a few paychecks is better than ruining your career. Chances are you’ll have to do it more than once in a long accounting career.
'You got to be willing to take the hits and keep moving forward'.. Stallone in Rocky Balboa 👍👍 'That's how winning is done!'
I remember Arnold was attacked with eggs at one point on TV while running for the California state election in 2004. And what stood out is how he reacted to it! Nothing but pure confidence and Charisma, because the egg merely fell like a mini asteroid on a gas giant like Jupiter, didn't feel a thing.. Just went ahead and instantly changed /got rid of that blazer he was wearing like it was a just bad piece of bread or something. Most jobs out there are the same if you are a confident player you are not going to bother with just winning and loosing the job to begin with. There will be purpose, a strategy and a ideal goal to everything you conceive.
Wait, what do you mean? They blacklist you if you don’t do the crime, or if you go to jail for the crime?
TRUTH
Many large corporations have ethics hotlines and other ways to report illegal behavior. For many of those those are just ways to identify employees who may be inclined to report that behavior to authorities and to eliminate them from the organization. Never use an internal ethics reporting system as it will cost your job.
Honestly. Anyone who starts commiting felonies out of fear of losing there job is a idiot. It'll never be worth it. Just quit. Even better file a official complaint with the SEC
As an ex auditor this hits home hard.. She definitely wins the award for the most charismatic accountant ever..
If you really believe that you were not an auditor, did some dinky audits, or you were a first year staff that did robotic monotonous work. Nothing she said was magical and exciting compared the stories I heard from senior partners with real clients at BDO.
@@americanbobtail1look found a hater!
She has amazing presentation skills. Her students must be so lucky to have her as their professor
I thought the same. I've never taken accounting but I could see enjoying a class taught by her. Loved her balance in not just the mechanics of accounting, but human nature and the pressure one feels from higher management. I'd love to be a student in her class.
She could definitely make a pretty dry subject really interesting, and her students would actually learn because they found her classes enjoyable.
Lucky my ass, no reflection on her, she's great. But she starts talking ethics the students eyes glaze over.
@@kittykat27belize76 I was forming a crush on this attractive, intelligent lady until I saw the wedding ring set on her finger... dammit... but, I still watched and learned... ;-)
I agree
Never thought of accounting as such a risky job. I have a friend who's a corporate accountant. I hope she handles that pressure well.
I completely agree. No one has any scruples. White collar crime still pays the most with the least consequences!! A 1970’s tune, “Take the money and run “!
It is not that bad as it is very difficult to prove fraud in court
Every business school professor, especially those in accounting, should teach their students that they should ALWAYS be prepared to get fired from their corporate job. ALWAYS. Otherwise, you will exposing yourself to do things that are best unethical and at worse illegal. I guarantee you this accountant had a mortgage, bills, a family that relied on him and he new that getting fired would devastate him financially.
My experience is that they do repeatedly.
a professor of mine was in this dilemma actually. And he always emphasized that even though he has to teach us ETHICS, he always tells us that THERE ARE NO ETHICS in accounting, because we will always be surrounded by people who'll either bribe you or threaten you. That's why, after 3 years in Audit, he decided to dedicate his life in TEACHING instead, at least in teaching, he did not have to risk breaking his values for some spare change from the higher ups.
The hardest interview I've ever been in I was grilled for an hour with several ethical and fraudulent scenarios and what would I do. I was young in my career and caught off guard. Reality is being an accountant is one of the hardest jobs you'll ever undertake because you're literally dealing with the psychology of people's mindsets about money.
As a chartered accountant, I completely agree that where people could fall down is in bowing to that pressure to make results be in line with what targets had been set at. Management can often think that a good enough accountant can make money out of thin air.
However, I have found that my career has been boosted every time I have been able to clearly articulate why I am saying no to something.
Accountants operate similarly to lawyers - there's room for judgement if the facts support it but there are fundamental rules which cannot be broken any more than the law can. Knowing those rules well and having the ability to state why something cannot be so has led to me being questioned on my judgement far less by my CFO and CEO.
bullshit is part of an accountant's job description... can see u are excelling in it.
She asked about why fraud happens and didn’t mention the fraud triangle. “Opportunity, motive / pressure, and rationalization”
Those are the simple concepts of fraud and it’s easier to frame the cases in those terms.
The VP of finance for instance had pressure from upper management, opportunity to upper management with no pushback from accounting , rationalized by a buy out
That’s why fraud happens. At least that’s how I’d explain it to a broad audience like the one you’d expect here.
They’re not rules, they’re principles. That’s why they’re called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, not Generally Accepted Accounting Rules.
@@chuckinhouston9952 I know what you're saying but I think it is a literal interpretation of a name which doesn't reflect reality. If your accounting isn't in line with the accounting standards you're reporting under, even if it is rational for something to be accounted for differently, then your accounts are misstated. If the difference to GAAP is material, you need to correct or your auditor will not sign off and if it is subsequently discovered, you need to disclose to the market.
Also, the fact that you would need to restate is a legal issue, even if it is based on the principle within IAS 8 or whichever bit of USGAAP you're talking about.
I stand by my point that there are rules that you cannot break, even if the title for those rules is "principles" or "standards".
@@chuckinhouston9952 Your getting caught up in semantics.
As an accounting student this was very informative, easy to understand and gave me a little insight into cash vs accrual accounting. I was engaged the entire time. I could watch an entire series with Kelly.
Easily understandable for us accountant prodigies
I never read any financial statement before I make my investment
As an auditor for 17 years I learned a lot from this video
@@AdeAde0224 how tf are you a auditor if you are learning from this vid like you are suppose to know this already idiot
@@yeetboi268You should learn to. Unless you're doing day trading.
This is a topic that no one seems to talk about...audit independence is paramount to the industry yet the primary way the firm makes its money put into question the independence of the firm from its clients.
So, this is just another way, the rich gets richer.
also rating agencies....
This is why all audit firms should be placed in double blind lottery based on proven expertise within a given industry and capacity. Then all clients should pay into a pool, audit firms enter the pool and then are given randomly assigned clients, with some firms being assigned as randomly sampling shadow auditors of the auditors to help insure independant and quality audits.
I've long said, going back as far as my Audit class, that clients directly hiring auditor firms creates a conflict of interest and the practice should be eliminated.
@@skunkbottom5421 Huh that sounds like a great idea!
@@skunkbottom5421 five year contracts. Enough time to learn the nooks and crannies, not enough time to build a paper pyramid.
As an accountant, I was not expecting this video to be an accounting lesson 🤦🏽♀️
She did a GREAT JOB.
This really hit home for me. In another life I used to work for a national fitness chain. They were publicly traded and things got interesting with the reporting of revenue vs cash. I was mid level and saw the writing on the wall early. Got out and watched the eventual crash from a distance. Regardless of the industry this happens in one shape or form or another. Be aware.
Health and Racquet/LeisureNet …was expecting a mention of Marcus Jooster
Darn it, you should have bought puts
Bally Total Fitness
There has never been a topic I was less interested in then accounting, but this woman made it sound so cool and high stakes. I was anxious and hopeful for those CPAs! 😂😂
😂😂😂
Every industry I’ve interacted with/worked in has corrupt, dishonest, fraudulent, or other shady practices. So that includes: retail, entertainment (specifically music), sales, insurance, healthcare, religion, food service/restaurant, chemical logistics, and finance/accounting. I’m tired of being asked to remember, cover, or fix people’s lies in order to draw a paycheck. Especially given that most of those people were considered “honest, upright citizens.”
Exactly. You have to find that place where you are willing to put up with the risk.
"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime" - Balzac
Preach! I'm going through this in a non-for-profit business and being made an example cause I don't paint a pretty picture of the situation.
It’s human nature lol. The system in western country or the world in general doesn’t have a test or way to do an integrity test of the character of a person to be hired. It’s tough to hire honest and smart people. There’s always these kinds of ppl/ puppet or whatever reason how it occur. Their action to the consequence is what the result. Again, you’ve to pick the right people to work. The boss who hire the person to do the dirty job should be punish the most.
And that’s how USA functions. To keep it going, lies upon lies are built up. I think US is in a 30 trillion debt? Well it’s still there and bandaid method is a popular method to solve issue in USA
I'm keeping my company 100% honest. People ruin their lives because of selling out their morals. Honesty is becoming such a scarce commodity I reckon there's an honesty premium to be had out there.
Its so much easier to charge the Accounting Department to maintain super-square books then to untangle a financial house-of-cards built over a couple years.
@@julesjames593 Quite right. Well said!
One executive director I worked with summed up his ambivalence about accounting in this: after going over some numbers, he asked the accountant, "What will the financials says?" To which the accountant replied, "What do you *want* it to say?" He switched accountants. The anecdote highlights the critical need for leaders to empower their financial teams to uphold integrity and solid financial management principles and practices. When people feel their jobs and reputations (even future career prospects) are at stake, it's more likely the organizational culture, and not just the financial team.
To her credit, she’s a great speaker. To any person who is not an accountant, she touches on the same topics that are taught in accounting 101 courses from over a decade ago. It’s great to see our profession’s intro syllabus hitting the main stream!
I just sold a property in Portland and I'm thinking to put the cash in stocks, I know everyone is saying its ripe enough, but Is this a good time to buy stocks? How long until a full recovery? How are other people in the same market raking in over $450k gains within months, I'm really just confused at this point.
A robust strategy is crucial for any investor's portfolio. When it comes to making high-stakes decisions, the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward, and it's wise to seek guidance from seasoned professionals.
A lot of folks downplay the role of advisors until being burnt by their own emotions. I remember couple summers back, after my lengthy divorce, I needed a good boost to help my business stay afloat, hence I researched for licensed advisors and came across someone of utmost qualifications. She's helped grow my reserve notwithstanding inflation, from $275k to $850k.
Just research the name Angela Lynn Shilling. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.
I was an auditor for some years then a corporate accountant for many more. One of the crass jokes we used to make was that the Auditor comes in after the battle is over to bayonet the wounded.
I think some of our management actually believed that though I always got on well with our auditors having been in their shoes and having strong ethical sensibilities. Maybe I didn't rise as high as I might have done if I didn't dig my toes in so hard against some of the things management wanted, but I kept myself - and them - well clear of the courts and the tax authorities.
Well done
Good for you man! Accountants save everyone’s asses from accidentally doing some illegal shit. Heroes of the corporate world.
They should probably make a law where the notifying accountant gets paid a portion of charges paid by the company in court for fraud, so that the accountants can make some money keeping companies honest, rather than be extorted as a patzy for said companies and then blacklisted anyway.
Whistleblowers can get paid by the govt. problem is the reward is not worth risk for 99% of ppl
How can you prove the company is cooking something if you're the person supposed to do it? How can you blow the whistle if the harm is not done yet?
@@darluok23what is available knowledge to the accountants that was not available to the public is an issue, especially if the evidence was removed. However, as an accountant you can find the discrepancy of the current company when they put them in charge of cooking. The can attempt to find evidence where in input of funds do not reflect the expenses or distributions. Or as you say, if you are the one who is supposed to do it. Get in contact with the authorities and work with them and gather evidence where it is clear they wanted the accountants to cook and represent the confirmation of the company acknowledging it in some way shape or form. If it is implied then don't do it and sue for wrongful termination if they fire you for not cooking.
The problem we have is because Most people always taught that " you only need a good job to become rich. These billionaires are operating on a whole other playbook that many don't even know exists.
Money invested is far better than
money saved, when you invest it gives
you the opportunity to increase your
financial worth.
It is remarkable how much long term
advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid,
instead of trying to be very intelligent.
The wisest thing that should be on
everyone mind currently should be to
invest in different streams of income
that doesn't depend on government
paycheck, especially with the current
economic crisis around the world. This is still a time to invest in Stocks, Forex and Digital currencies.
I also keep seeing lot's of people
testifying about how they make money investing in Stock, Forex and Crypto Trade(Bitcoin) and I wonder why I keep loosing. Can anyone help me out or at least advice me on what to do.
Even with the right technique and
assets some investors would still make more than others. As an investor, you should've known that by now that nothing beats experience and that's final. Personally I had to reach out to a stock expert for guidance which is how I was able to grow my account close to $35k, withdraw my profit right before the correction and now I'm buying again.
With markets tumbling, inflation soaring, the Fed imposing large interest-rate hike, while treasury yields are rising rapidly-which means more red ink for portfolios this quarter. How can I profit from the current volatile market, I'm still at a crossroads deciding if to liquidate my $125k bond/stocck portfoli0
It’s precisely at times like these that investors need to be on guard against the next certainty. You don’t have to act on every forecast, hence i will suggest you get yourself a financial-advisor that can provide you with entry and exit points on the shares/ETF you focus on.
Right, I've been in constant touch with a fiinancial-analyst since covid . You know these days it's really easy to buy into trending stock`s, but the task is determining when to buy or sell . My advisorr decides entry and exit commands on my portfoliio, I've accrued over $300k from an initially stagnant reserve of $150K.
that's impressive!, I could really use the expertise of this advisors , my portfolio has been down bad....who’s the person guiding you.
please may i know your trader?
Google her name.
Almost 10/10 times when something like fraud shows up and they need to respond, they go with being a team player. The fact is we keep talking about these things but continue to let the cancer grow. We already know this happens and at this point, these videos feel more of a slap to the face that says 'we'll always be able to rig the game and there's nothing you can do about it.'
Because you’ll get fired if u bring up proof of or even suspects fraud (and keep inquiring).
If you aren't going to be a team player, they'll fire you and hire/promote someone who will. And there's always the possibility that you'll get blacklisted from other companies who also only want team players.
Being able to choose your auditor is where this system fails. Auditors should be assigned through a third party like a government regulator. Then there should be a separate competitive market for auditors to become eligible for assignments. I cannot understand how anyone could think this would play out in any other way. So maybe it was by design.
It’s part of the legalized corruption scheme.
That suggestion would be much worse. It is just creating a way for corrupt government officials appointing shady auditors. Not to mention bureaucracy costs and delays in appointing the auditors.
The way it works right now is that third parties, such as investors, banks, and general stakeholders, can decide whether or not they are happy with the auditor the company chose. Thus, when they see someone like Madoff, for instance, who had an obscure auditor with no other clients, they could discard him long before his scheme was uncovered. That is what smart stakeholders did. Stakeholders also forced Andersen out of the market as soon as Enron scandal erupted. All companies that had them as auditors rushed to replace, to avoid being rejected by stakeholders.
This current system is far from perfect, but much better than having auditors appointed by government agencies.
As a CPA, audits are a joke, they aren’t timely or useful.
Quarterly earnings are not audited, so that provides even less assurance anything is accurate.
Also you are wrong on companies wanting to recognize revenue all the time.
There are those companies who will hold off on recognizing revenue in a period of great results, to use on a rainy day when a period down the road isn’t as good, they can boost revenue then.
Again, all these companies earnings and projections communicated to investors are no audited. It isn’t real accounting.
As a possible future CPA, I plan on being a more diligent CPA than this.
Quarterly earning are reviewed by auditors, to imply there’s no oversight is misleading.
But I agree auditing today could be improved, it’s not great, but good luck getting SOX repealed, especially with places like SVB causing headaches
@@Stars4Heartslolz. U got jokes! You’ll tie the line Jaír like ur peers.
@@millennial9252they’re not wrong. U just added a caveat.
Not an accountant, but I used to work for a company that reported the expenditures for the previous month on the fifth of the next month. So, between the first and the fourth of every month there would be this huge meeting where all department heads were present. Say department A forecasted $28K in spare parts but only used $18K, well, not a problem, maybe department B needed $10K extra and it was moved to their bucket. So we would go through this exercise and voila! Each report showed that all departments had made perfect forecasts. It was ‘not’ that one over spent and the other underspent. And this final perfect report was provided to corporate. It was explained to us that a measure of the health of a company was the accuracy of the forecasting of expenditures.
I have also seen in manufacturing operations how the pressure to bring untested equipment is omniscient, even when the new machinery does not perform. Which many times is the result of simply not testing it. Why? Because a measure of the department bringing in the new equipment is being ‘ahead of time and under budget’. If the machine works, well, that is optional and somebody else’s problem in the production floor. I cannot imagine the pressure on an accountant, a professional with a license to practice, being that they are cognizant they may be committing a crime. But I can tell the pressure on engineers to only deliver good news is enormous, and we are only talking about nuts and bolts, not even money.
Yep. Look at the fall of Boeing as an example. People died as a result of management needing to make targets.
This is a great video. I just learned a lot in seven and a half minutes. Thank you so much to Kelly Richmond who explained it so well, not just covering accounting, but also the more important "people" side and how we give in to pressure or our desire to keep a client and not lose business. Thanks for posting this. Fascinating.
I really appreciate the dedication in each video you post. To be successful in markets, traders should understand the crossover between asset classes & liquidity flow. Michael Terpin focuses on Multi-asset trading, a single strategy to manage risk, profit, and the code or the actual decision-making across multi-asset classes. His skills set is top notch.
Overall, 51% of traders think this year would favor stocks, mutual funds, and other equity-based investments, despite Treasury yields and other safer cash-like investments paying big. I’m looking for opportunities in the market that could fetch me $1m ahead of retirement by 2025
the strategies are quite rigorous for the regular-Joe. As a matter of fact, they are mostly successfully carried out by pros who have had a great deal of skillset/knowledge to pull such trades off.
Michael Terpin has changed my life for good, i attended his investment class couple of weeks last year and he's the best when it commes to guidance
Was skeptical at first until I decided to try. It’s huge returns is awesome! I can’t say much.
HE IS ON TEL GRAM
Zero accountability is why... crime pays and there aren't any consequences.
Laws are for the poors.
It's good to be rich.
Make them pay. Find executives. Bother them legally
white collar crime pays very well
Follow the money! Bond-rating firms are paid by the companies whose bonds are being rated. Partial solution: Have the company issuing the bonds pay the SEC for the rating, and have the SEC assign and pay the bond-rating firm. This same idea can work for audits.
fees Re already paid to SEC and finra.
I am an accountant, and accountants have to know their responsabilities. I can't come out publicly and say I was induced to do something I didn't want to, and people feel pity for me. It's like a doctor that claims he did a surgery because he was forced to and knew it was the wrong one. It's just dishonest, it's jail on you.
Auditors should be incentivized to find errors and fraud instead of being rewarded to downplay them.
You’re not incentivized to ignore fraud. U can go to jail, worsen yours and your companies reputation, and fines with SOX are no joke. The problem is that auditing is EXPENSIVE, and it doesn’t make economic sense to test for fraud every audit, let alone quarterly
Most often during an audit, the auditors tell the company's accountants where the gaps are in their support for their decision-making and the companies try to fix, find the right solution and make changes going forward. It's not like cops and robbers.
The onus is on the company to conduct business ethically: accountants are equally bound by ethical standards
@@mapetahuma1204 yes. You're right. Often times (certainly not always) the auditors know more about common practices and more appropriate treatment because they often cover multiple companies in a given industry. So, they often do a bit of educating during audits. Sometimes they discuss/argue about the best treatment. But you're 100% right. Onus sits with the company to conduct themselves properly. That shouldn't ever be in doubt.
@@thomasr6732 this entirely depends on hte audit team you are working in and the timeframe you are working to. Whilst no one is ever going to say "overlook that fraud", in a PCAOB audit with a tight deadline there is an incentive when working long hours to make that stop and get the audit across the finish line. Whilst not directly fraud related, I definitely had one manager ask me to not raise an error that I had found and to find a way in which it could be something other than an error.
American audits for listed companies have to demonstrate that not only are there no material misstatements in the accounts but there is no way in which there could be; this is a noble objective but means that if you find a material problem post year end then it can't be fixed, even if it is down to judgement, which means a modified audit opinion. This therefore it creates a perverse incentive when trying to close down the audit to say that everything is ok so that you can go home and get some sleep and stop working werekends. Finding any misstatement would only create more work, even if it is in an area which is isolated and would not be indicative of something more pervasive, in order to explain why you didn't have to give a modified controls opinion. Even if there is no direct financial incentive to ignore fraud, the promise of sleep and seeing your family is a pretty good incentive for a staff auditor.
By contrast, where I was auditing groups which were listed in London or private companies: if we found a misstatement, we told management and then they would post an adjustment to the accoutns after a period of grumbling. We would do some extra testing to make sure nothing further was going to be an issue but then that was that.
Thats why I am firmly of the belief that SoX does not necessarily prevent errors in accounts and some middle ground or room for flexibility in approach must be found.
Seems like the problem lies in how the accounting firms get paid. Companies shouldn't have a say in who inspects their finances.
It is not so much how they get paid but the nature of the relationships. It is common practice in corporate accounting that the company’s accounting firm is also the company that audits. Or the firms have incest like relationships. And since they want to keep the client’s business…..conflicts of interest arise. It gets worse when the company is being funded by VCs or operate with restricted funds. The saddest part is that accountants are often like crabs in the barrel. The new one is usually criticizes the old one for what wasn’t done right so replacements are part of the game particularly when it takes the blame off the client.
Working on my MBA right now and running my business after getting out of the military. I wish that every professor and accountant was like her. Her presentation skills are top-notch.
I worked for large corporations around the beltway that employed what I called " Voodoo Accounting" and our pseudo accountants did not like me at all. I have been asked to lie for someone and I refused I told them it was wrong and they should man up and take the consequences of their actions. They lost their pension and got some jail time and I did not lose any sleep over it.
Respect. You inspired me to increase my integrity
Makes perfect sense.. Large corporates themselves are not created with 'Everyone' in mind. It's more of everyone for themselves and no your co-workers are not really your friends. No doubt It's a elaborate gangster shit toxic set up purely for the unethical scumbags out there! Only such people thrive in the Mega corp environment.
I had to go toe to toe with our small mfg company CEO who wanted me to fudge some revenue numbers on a report I needed to submit to the state of California. The last button before you hit submit on this report is asking whether you swear what you submitted is truthful and MY NAME would be on it, not his. That wasn't even a question that I wouldn't agree to that. People need to stop being more afraid of compromising their own values than just saying yes to every person who might have a title. He or she told me to do it is a ridiculous excuse as an adult to do something you know is not right.
This definitely wasn't just for smart people. I am a dummy and I understood every word she said. She's a magician.
no idea why this showed up in my timeline when i was thinking of switching career paths. i majored in accounting but i still am trying to get the license, and i got tired of studying so i was thinking of ways to learn cybersecurity. then i heard this woman "accounting is my superpower, and i want it to be yours too." it made me realize that i should probably give this field a try because honestly, accounting is pretty cool :D
you good at math? that helps
Lol I wanted to be an engineer but my mathematical abilities weren’t up to snuff, I’m a CPA and 98% of the math required on a daily basis is basic and TG for Excel…
As an ex auditor this hits home hard.
As an accounting student I really enjoyed this episode. Very well explained.
Why Why Why Why Why would you choose accounting 😭
As someone who might happen into an accounting position, this was an exceptional watch!
enjoyed this
wish it was longer and more in-depth
Like a more detailed break down of actual prosecuted frauds
Auditing is not designed to catch fraud. In fact, in cases with large companies you sometimes avoid discrepancies of millions of dollars. You get away with fraud if it’s small relative to the business b/c routine audits aren’t designed to find that.
Totally, probably the first question my teacher asked us in our first audit class was something along the lines of "Is the role of auditors to find/stop fraud?" we all stupidly said yes.
True, but it’s only part of the complete answer. All companies should have policies and procedures in place and followed that are designed to detect and prevent fraud. Auditors should ensure that such policies and procedures exist, are reasonable and are followed. If that is not the case then the overall accuracy and reliability of the accounting system may be suspect. That may lead to a qualified or adverse audit opinion.
I earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1986. I recognized some of these dark aspects of accounting more than 3 decades ago. Frankly, that is why I decided I didn't want to be manipulated by the whims of business owners/executives.
what did u end up working as?
Ethics has become an important subject in degrees now.
The truth will always set you free. Honesty comes at a cost but so does dishonesty
Hard to look at your kids when you lose the job house car maybe they future..its hard
@@fgonzalez78959 yes. It's hard. But it's harder when you are in prison because even if you wanted to help them you won't be able to.
If you have your freedom you could at least look for another job or start a business.
You can't do any of those from behind a prison cell.
..thank you for making it plain. such a wonderful presentation, you made this crystal clear.
She definitely break the mold of “accountants are boring”.
It’s interesting to listen to her 👍🏻
Good video, but one nitpick.
You can’t book $10m of revenue just because you have a friend that owns another business. Whether of it they are going to go bankrupt. In order to book revenue you need to be entitled to the money.
That means that you have an enforceable contract AND you performed under the contract.
Example: you produce potato chips. You Sign a contract with a distributor to sell them your brand of chips. That distributor sends you a purchase order for 100 cases of chips. You produce the chips, package the chips, and ship the chips to the distributor. Once you have done all that, then you can recognize revenue.
To be fair, you’re probably 30-45 days away from being paid, but you did everything you were supposed to under the contract that entitles you to payment.
The way she says it makes it sound like companies are just estimating that one day they may get this order and booking the revenue. That would definitely get caught in an audit.
Love it when technical videos have brilliant presenters, similarly, when journalists are accurate
This is why I'm very afraid to work at/with/for largish companies, and am glad I can make a fine living being a tax preparer and small-time auditor of very small firms. I don't think I'd last long anywhere there was anything resembling a lot of pressure. It's definitely a lot of work during tax season, but it's fairly simple work repeated many times over. Could I make more money elsewhere? Certainly. But money is not as important as not being stressed out with work.
Makes perfect sense.. Large corporates themselves are not created with 'Everyone' in mind. It's more of everyone for themselves and no your co-workers are not really your friends. No doubt It's a elaborate gangster shit toxic set up purely for the unethical scumbags out there! Only such people thrive in the Mega corp environment.
As someone in audit myself, extremely well explained...wow.
So why don't we call if fraud in gov't accounting when they decide to call increased spending "investment"? Or when a department's budget was expected to grow 20% but only grew 15% a budget cut of 5%? They still got 15% more than the prior year so there really was no cut and no reduction.
Increased spending is an investment for the good of your country. However, if you've elected bandits to run your country, you shouldn't be surprised when stuff goes missing. The problem is in part that most people don't understand government in any detail, especially when you have 300million+ people, who don't even know a lot about the country they live in. Accordingly, things are more likely to go wrong. Perhaps that's why the USA isn't Switzerland. It's far too big to be coherent as a nation, and the resources given nature are not even, so people from one side of the nation to another doesn't quite understand how each other lives. And it needs change in its politics. Good luck with that. You're going to need it.
People like Andy should go see an employment attorney.. There's no way it's legal to force an employee to commit fraud on the threat of being fired.
This was very informative. I am in financial services and know these things but the way she lays them it is very good. I learned a few things.
My friend started a business that had a big cash flow, making the bank account show a high balance, so that he could borrow money to buy assets. Very risky. Large cash flow does not equal profitability, borrowing money is a negative asset. Even Tesla is getting criticized for low profit margin.
Taking accounting this summer and didn’t realize how much it involved just thought it was regular book keeping stuff only lol
Thank you, really enjoyed the video! Interesting and entertaining!!! Good luck to your channel!!!👍👏
Im an accounting student and i have a hard time understanding the concepts, idk if I should continue it's hard for me😭 but this woman right here made it look so interesting she loves accounting I can tell, and I admire her for that
Look up accounting stuff on TH-cam. He's great
From the audit class professor on first day of class: CPA = certified PUBLIC accountant. You work for the public not one's client even though they pay the bills. Great professor, learned a lot. He was definitely preparing the class for future ethical run ins.....
We live in a regressive society when the client of the company pays the auditors.
Be nice if we had some laws enforced
bingo
Won't happen anytime soon. Everyone is bought and paid for.
Sarbanes Oxley prevents 99% of this stuff from happening
If you believe Adam Davidson, prosecuting financial crimes would probably cause a recession.
When are you uploading the full video?
Excelente video, just how simple you explained some things that takes accounting students months to understand
Isn't this why SOX rules were created? I was an employee of Nortel when it collapsed. The year before the collapse its shares were soaring. But it was all based on a house of cards. Recognizing revenue in advance of being paid from a bunch of other big customers who were playing the same game (i.e. making commitments for future purchases that they would never have the money to make). Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs. Millions suffered devastating losses in the stock market. And a handful of execs got rich and retired early.
SOX is a token regulation. It still doesn’t solve legalized corruption.
Melvin Dick who helped Enron hide their losses has relocated to North Idaho some years ago and rebranded as a local philanthropist.
This is a great video. Informative and well done.
Such important info. Thank you!
Get a copy of ‘smartest guys in the room’ about the Enron scandal. Where the opportunity to make massive profits exists, there will always be dodgy practices.
I study commerce and i did journal today😊
Thank you a great explanation of what so many of us have believed , has been going on for a long time. And undoubtedly will be going on in the future.
Excellent conversation. Deep insights. ⭐⭐⭐
When the enforcement agency is bribed in the form of fines you’ll never catch the criminals 😂
True
Its not the accounting systems nor the money systems. It’s because people are not honest and they are taught and encouraged to be greedy and that they need to have more stuff than the next guy to be successful and to compete for wealth, status and power.
From the largest corporations to the guy selling used cars on the street, If you can get away with fooling, lying, deceiving, cheating and stealing as long as you are making money its considered an acceptable way to do business. People even brag about making money this way. Intimidating and threatening people to get them to do things so you can make money is also common. Governments try to police some of this but often times they work in partnerships with the corporations. Governments have also not been intirely truthful in the past and have also lied to us.
Religions are master story tellers and have literally convinced people that there are magical authorities that live in the sky to make money. It’s buyer beware! Why tell them the truth when you can make money lying to them? Unfortunately, capitalism promotes and encourages this kind of thinking. Why should you care if you are ripping people off or damaging their health with your products or damaging the environment making your products? The only thing that matters is making more money for yourself and the owners or the shareholders.
If we are going to make any progress in the 21 century or in the future, this kind of thinking cannot continue. The levels of trust and respect needs to rise to a point where humans will no longer be inspired to compete for survival, wealth status and power by fooling, lying, deceiving, cheating, stealing or by force and aggression and committing crimes.
Trust and respect among our nations need to reach a level where they will no longer feel the need to spy on each other and can stop manufacturing weapons that can wipe out most of the life on this planet and from there start working towards reducing and eventually stopping the manufacturing of any weapons of war .
A good starting point would be to begin with the understanding that the wellbeing and happiness of others benefits everyone and is the basis for morality. If people are struggling to survive, they will not care about anybody else nor about the devastation of the planet. The responsibility is with our wealthiest and smartest and brightest among us.
I am the first to admit that humans may not be able to achieve this type of progress but we have to start talking about it and start presenting these ideas. Committing crimes and making up stories about magical authorities with supernatural powers that live in the sky is not helpful.
I do not agree with all the ideas in these books but “Doughnut Economics” by Kate Raworth, “Prosperity without Growth” by Tim Jackson, and “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins and organizations like “The Centre for Advancements of the Steady State Economy” are promising developments.
I concur. No one has any scruples. White collar crime still pays the most with the least consequences!! A 1970’s tune, “Take the money and run “!
This was a great breakdown. Thanks, Dr. Pope - this was an informative video!
0:09 Hit 200k today. Thank you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last months. Started with 14k in last 4months of 2023
Wow that's huge, how do you make that much monthly ?
I don’t comfortably throw recommendations of her on the internet God she’s brilliant her skills are set exceptionally .Thank you Amelia Jason I’m sure there’re also good people who excel in their field ! .
She must be really dedicated and well trusted to talk much good about... can I meet her?
she's mostly on Telegrams, using the user name.
@AmeliaJason11 💯 that’s it
Seems like capitalism breeds "creative accounting" in every industry
Every “ism” creates people who want to cook the books!
Probably would be better that accounting firms receive some type of insurance in order to practice whereby the government ensures that if anyone contracts them and places them in compromising positions they're entitled to receive expected payment, but by no means are compelled to fudge numbers. This would also ensure that any problematic financial data that is discovered still remains confidential to the client while maintaining compliance with finance laws without the incentive of being bought by the client
Love the way she explains it!!
This video is brilliant - thanks for sharing!
Title is "Why fraud still thrives on Wall Street" yet most of the video is basic accounting principles.
Yes exactly, fraud thrives on Wall Street because of basic accounting principles..
Remember "Voodoo economics"? Fraud has become the basis of economics over the last 40+ years and it is the accountants that made it all possible. Accounting firms and accountants have to spend an inordinate amount time ensuring that they don't look into the wrong places as their salaries depend on not seeing what their clients/employers have done.
accountants AND LAWYERS you mean. Can’t make corruption legal without lawyers
@@newagain9964 ...and most politicians are lawyers.
The first rule of finance is 2+2 = 5 or 3 depending on what you want it to be, but never 4.
Super succinct presentation!
Searching more of Ms. Pope’s content.
Looks like north americans discovered that they actually need a government with external auditors.
thx for the accouting class!
A good friend of mine went to school for accounting, He told me the first half of his degree was learning how to keep perfect books, the second half of his degree was to edit perfect books.
almost as big of a joke as being a lawyer.
Seems like the core of capitalism and just simply does not have to exist anymore
Tesla...
How come
Are you just assuming or did you look at their financials and come to that conclusion?
@@fibonacimike4110 I work at a hedge fund and there's already a lot out there on the internet about this company's financials. It's up to each individual to do their own diligence.
BEST accountant EVER!!! Was a beautiful teaching lesson and so thankful I got to watch and learn! Can’t wait to see more from her! Loved 🥰 learning from her!!
Incredibly intelligent and a great orator. Well done
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Your example of a friend who owns a business and you think you’re going to get sales of $10M of revenue.
You can’t book that $10M because you think you’re getting that revenue. There were no sales, no service performed, no products shipped.
Your example is awful to be blunt.
The point you should of made was this.
You have a client who you signed a $10M contract with to provide services over the year. Just because you have a contract that is for $10M doesn’t mean it’s revenue on Day 1. Instead it’s unearned revenue, until the goods or services are provided. So after 1 month of services you’d book revenue and take one month of unearned revenue away. This is under the accrual method. It doesn’t matter when cash is received.
Cash basis of accounting would look at that $10M contract and nothing would be booked Day 1. Instead as cash comes in, revenue would be recognized. If the company pays $5M up front, you’d book $5M of revenue.
“Accounting is my super power, what’s yours?” She seems like somebody you’d really want to have a conversation with
Your comment is passive aggressive. Why don’t you tip toe on out and say how you really feel? You can do it. Say what you don’t like about the lady with you chest. I won’t judge you. This is a safe space.
1:11 and she said “Accounting is my superpower, so I want it to be yours.”
@@Ancin47 thank you, ppl cant hear or understand English
I wasn’t being passive aggressive I really enjoyed her talk and thought she was very personable, explained things in a relatable way and she seems to have positive energy. If I had to pick a team of anyone for positive workplace culture she would be on it for expertise, seemingly understanding the nature of people compassionately and positivity.
@@hwway4488 I stand corrected and I apologize. Sorry.
Awesome video, as always!
She's uncomfortably comfortable mentioning fraudulent practices as just kinda what's done, rather than fundamentally flawed and morally bankrupt. "Andy knew it was wrong, but what was he going to do, push back? No." "[Rita] was like a magician. ...she was really good at what she was doing, until she wasn't." THIS is very much what is wrong.
Now we know why Trump's accountant went to jail.
Accountincy majors were super nerds. 🤓 This was a good! Mad respect for the production...
I knew absolutely fuckall about anything discussed in the video, but my god was it presented in an eloquent, captivating way. As a HS teacher, I’d vouch for her to go and teach accounting in a heartbeat.
Very educative and interesting!
Fascinating! You admit to knowing nothing about the subject, but will vouch for the presenter because she is eloquent and a captivating speaker! Don’t teachers have to know something about what is being taught?
By the way, she knows her subject well.
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Wow. No wonder every CPA I've known was cynical and misanthropic. No win situation.