a Sift Media publication

Over 23,000 pages of accounting passion and insight! |

Articles by Curtis Verschoor

New Survey of Workplace Ethics Shows Surprising Results

04/23/2012 - 18:03 - 2331 reads

Findings from a survey of ethics in the workplace may portend a future downward shift in business ethics. The percentage of companies with a weak ethical culture is on the rise, as is the number of employees who experienced retaliation for blowing the whistle on observed misconduct.

Credit Rating Should Be Improved, Not Discarded

03/13/2012 - 14:46 - 963 reads

Regulatory downgrading of the role of credit raters is misguided. Development of ethical and professional standards would make information needed by investors more useful and reliable. The culpability of credit rating agencies in contributing to the financial crisis has been debated, but without conclusive agreement.

Teaching How to Cheat

01/30/2012 - 16:22 - 1416 reads

Concerns about cheating in school are nothing new, but they usually don't include teachers. The widespread scandals of teachers cheating on standardized tests provide the wrong ethical guidance to those who will later staff and lead business organizations.

Bank Controls Are Lacking and Regulations Are Insufficient

12/07/2011 - 16:32 - 1544 reads

Significant losses by banks have demonstrated the need for improved risk management and internal controls to avoid past mistakes. To be successful, these changes require a stronger ethical culture, not more of the same regulatory actions that failed in the past.

Measuring trust in business

08/08/2011 - 18:14 - 2285 reads

Integrity,Ethics,Trust

Trust is a vital element of business, yet it's difficult to measure and often gets overlooked. Two research groups have devised their own rating systems to determine which companies are most trustworthy.

Do for-profit colleges deserve taxpayer support?

05/31/2011 - 11:52 - 3123 reads

BackToSchool.homepage.jpg

The for-profit college industry has come under a firestorm of controversy from a number of sources for allegedly using misleading, possibly fraudulent, marketing, and student recruiting practices.

Did Ernst & Young really assist financial fraud?

03/28/2011 - 21:11 - 4989 reads

banking_money_european_flags

As the auditor of Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young approved the use of Repo 105 transactions. These transactions were characterized as sales of assets and created a misleading picture of Lehman's financial position during the financial meltdown.

How an embezzler stole millions from a small company

01/26/2011 - 17:37 - 7655 reads

Magnifying_Glass,Spy,Investigate

New details have emerged on the methods used and the outcomes following the case of 47-year-old convicted embezzler Sujata “Sue” Sachdeva, who was the trusted 15-year veteran vice president of finance, secretary, and principal accounting officer of Koss Corporation.

SEC has five prominent fraud cases in one month

12/14/2010 - 12:36 - 2738 reads

July was a busy month for the SEC. Five of the enforcement cases charged or settled that month involved large, well-known companies, including KBR, Goldman Sachs, Dell, General Electric, and Citigroup.

Increased motivation for whistle-blowing

11/18/2010 - 16:58 - 7458 reads

New statutory and regulatory changes provide greater rewards to individuals who blow the whistle on fraudulent activities and to organizations that actively encourage an effective ethical culture.

Welcome Visitor!

Sign up for the Weekly Insight newsletter to stay informed of future content in this category.

Already have an account? Sign in:

Forgotten your password?

Join us

Connect with us

Follow us

About Curtis C. Verschoor

Dr. Curtis C. Verschoor, CPA, CIA, CMA, CFE, is Emeritus Ledger & Quill Research Professor in the School of Accountancy and MIS and honorary Senior Wicklander Research Fellow in the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, both at DePaul University. He also is CEO of C.C. Verschoor & Associates, Inc., author, researcher, chair, and member of audit committees, consultant, speaker, and expert witness.

Formerly, he was a senior corporate officer of several large international public companies and served with two international public accounting firms. His special expertise relates to the subjects of auditing, corporate governance and audit committees, applied business ethics, internal auditing, internal controls and compliance, and auditing management.

Dr. Verschoor has been widely quoted in the media on a global basis and has published books, monographs, and many articles in prominent print and electronic media. For a number of years he has edited the Ethics column in Strategic Finance and book reviews in Internal Auditing. His most recent books are Audit Committee Essentials (Wiley), Ethics and Compliance: Challenges for Internal Auditing (IIA), and Internal Auditing: Fundamental Principles and Best Practices (BNA).

CURTIS C. VERSCHOOR
CEO
C.C. VERSCHOOR & ASSOCIATES, INC.
847-381-8115
curtisverschoor@sbcglobal.net