The growth of the Internet in the last twenty years has spurred the growth of on-line financial services as well. These days on-line banking and e-commerce have become ubiquitous, as financial transactions are carried out at users’ convenient place and time. An offshoot of this broader phenomenon is on-line investment services offered by various banks. …
Tag: Bernard Madoff
The views of Robert Maxwell and Harold Edey on accounting policy, creative accounting and regulation
Robert Maxwell was credited with saying that Accountancy is not the exact science which some of us once thought it was, and in an academic paper, Edey (1989) stated that Accounting reports can provide no more than approximate (rough is a better term) indications of the financial health and state of a business. Profit is…
Bernard Madoff: Scapegoat of an Economic Crisis
Throughout human history punishments have been meted out to people who are not guilty or only partially guilty. Actions that can invoke punitive action from the authorities include treason, fraud, crime, breach of trust, etc. Famous examples from recent centuries include Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell, etc, who were ostracized and punished for expressing…
Relevance of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to the Madoff Scandal
The investment scandal perpetrated by Bernard Madoff is the largest financial fraud in the history of capitalism. It is believed that Madoff’s secretive investment advice firm caused a loss of nearly $65 billions for the 4,000 odd investors who trusted his firm with their wealth. The investors consisted of several celebrities as well as people…