http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/s-p-to-pay-nearly-80-million-in-settlements/?_r=1
Posted by SEAH Hui Ting, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Accountancy, Singapore Management University
S&P to Pay Nearly $80 Million to Settle Fraud Cases
Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency blamed for helping inflate the subprime mortgage bubble, has settled accusations that it orchestrated a similar fraud years after the bubble burst. Continue reading
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2015/01/351_171136.html
Justice or economics?
5 January 2015
Korea Times
By Andrew Salmon
It’s that time of year again: The time of year to recover from lingering hangovers; to implement those pesky new year’s resolutions; and to, er, parole or pardon the depressingly long roster of corporate criminals. Voices have been rising in the ruling party and the administration for the president to exercise her right to grant paroles and/or pardons to these white-collar wrongdoers. And there are a lot of them ― almost a “Who’s Who” of Korea Inc’s elite.
Tycoons attending the boardroom behind bars include (deep breath): SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and his younger brother, both serving raps for embezzlement; CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun for embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion; LIG Group Chairman Koo Bong-sang, for defrauding investors; Tongyang Group Chairman Hyun Jae-hyun for a billion-dollar-plus fraud; Taekwang Group Chairman Lee Ho-jin for embezzlement and breach of trust; and ex-STX Chairman Kang Duk-soo, for embezzlement and accounting fraud. Continue reading
Police arrest Kalimantan palm-oil tycoon Budiono Tan
12 January 2015
The Jakarta Post
The West Kalimantan Police have arrested palm-oil tycoon Budiono Tan, who allegedly misappropriated 1,535 land certificates of oil-palm farmers in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.
The businessman, who runs a plantation through PT Benua Indah Grup (BIG), was caught on Friday night in West Jakarta after being sought for five years. Continue reading
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Prosecutors-did-their-best-30189460.html
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Takeover-king-Pin-ends-exile-back-in-Bangkok-30189378.html
http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0623/ispin.june.html
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2000/dec/09/5
Thailand: Prosecutors ‘did their best’
3 September 2012
Thai News Service
Section: General News – Attorney General Praphan Naikowit on August 30 rejected claims that his office had failed in its mission to locate and seek the extradition of Pin Chakkaphak, whose alleged massive siphoning-off of funds from his own business was seen as sparking the 1997 economic meltdown, The Nation reports. Praphan defended public prosecutors after it was disclosed that Pin has returned to Bangkok following the expiry of the 15-year statute of limitations in his case. The Bank of Thailand accused Pin of collaborating with two others to embezzle Bt2.127 billion from his Finance One Group in 1996-97. Continue reading
http://ww2.cfo.com/gaap-ifrs/2015/01/struggle-simplify-accounting
The Struggle to Simplify Accounting: Companies just don’t want to give up the flexibility to manage financial reporting that’s provided by the complexity of accounting standards.
Edward W. Trott
January 22, 2015 | CFO.com | US
Complexity in accounting is sometimes necessary when the transaction or economic event is complex. Some measurements will always be complex when there is the lack of significant observable data with which to make an estimate.
But much of the current complexity in accounting standards is unnecessary. This excess complexity is usually supported by CFOs and other corporate preparers of financial statements (who would most benefit from simplification of the standards) because of a desire to avoid the effort to undergo major changes in accounting standards. Continue reading
Click to access Grant_Thortnon_Assocham_Fraud-A_key_governance_risk.pdf
Click to access Vidya-Rajarao.pdf
Corporate fraud reports a 45 per cent increase in India: ASSOCHAM-Grant Thornton
15 January 2015
Merinews
Dian corporate frauds arising out of corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, window dressing, financial reporting fraud and bribery have increased by over 45% in the last two years due to weakness in internal controls, scarcity of resources at disposal and over-riding powers of the senior management, according to an ASSOCHAM-Grant Thornton study. The joint survey by ASSOCHAM and Grant Thornton revealed that the companies related to real estate and infrastructure sector (52%) are considered to be the most vulnerable to fraud related incidences followed by financial services (34%), telecom (5%), manufacturing (3%), electronics and IT/ ITeS (2%), Hospitality and tourism (2%). Over 65% of our survey respondents agreed to witness a rising trend of wilful defaults and frauds. The survey observed that the lurking risk of frauds has been dissuading global companies from investing in India, points out the survey. Procurement frauds, payrolls frauds, asset misappropriation, financial misstatement, corruption, bribery, tax evasion, piracy, intellectual Property (IP) fraud, kickbacks, accounting frauds, counterfeiting, white-collar crimes etc are swiftly threatening business in both the private and public sectors, adds the report.
Aging Japanese Prove Rich Pickings for Investment Fraud
By Masaaki Iwamoto – Jan 21, 2015
A growing number of retirees in Japan are falling victim to fraud, underscoring a downside of promoting personal investment in the world’s most aged nation. Combating the problem is a rising challenge for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as it encourages Japanese households to shift more of their 1,654 trillion yen ($14 trillion) in assets out of savings accounts and into investments that boost the economy. Continue reading
http://www.sequenceinc.com/fraudfiles/2013/06/escaping-detection-why-auditors-do-not-find-fraud/
Posted by CHEN Liting, Year 3 undergrad at the School of Business, Singapore Management University
Escaping Detection: Why Auditors Do Not Find Fraud
June 25, 2013
This article was originally printed in Valuation Strategies, a magazine published by Thomson Reuters.
Even with all the publicity surrounding the issue of financial fraud in the last decade, most auditors, investors, and other professionals still do not “get it” when it comes to detecting fraud. Traditional financial statement audits were never designed to detect fraud. Continue reading
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/house-lawmakers-seek-revive-bank-century-probe/
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KI17Ae02.html
House Lawmakers Seek to Revive Bank Century Probe
By Markus Junianto Sihaloho on 08:36 am Jan 20, 2015
Not Over Yet Head of deposit insurance agency tells hearing legal woes led to loss-making sale
Former customers of Bank Century, now Bank Mutiara, demand justice at the KPK’s offices. (Antara Photo/Puspa Perwitasari)
Jakarta. Several lawmakers are pushing for the revival of a House of Representatives inquiry committee into the controversial bailout of the now-defunct Bank Century.
In 2008, the government forked over a Rp 6.7 trillion ($530 million) bailout to the ailing bank. Critics at the time said the revelation that wealthy donors to then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s re-election campaign were among the bank’s clients raises questions of propriety, if not legality. Continue reading
Related: Substitution between Real and Accruals-Based Earnings Management after Voluntary Adoption of Compensation Clawback Provisions (Link)
Clawbacks Can Lead to Accounting Gimmicks
WASHINGTON, D.C. (JANUARY 20, 2015)
BY MICHAEL COHN
The clawbacks on executive compensation mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act may discourage one type of accounting manipulation only to encourage another, according to a new study.
Section 954 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contained a provision requiring all publicly listed companies to recover from executives any incentive compensation that was paid to them on the basis of erroneous financial statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission has still not determined exactly how the clawback provision will be enforced and it is not yet mandatory. But many companies have voluntarily enabled or required themselves to implement them. Continue reading
AsianExtractor: Unearthing Accounting Fraud in Asia 