I want to learn how to detect frauds in company financial reports. Any such book for investors(not for accoutants)?
Google Terry Smith. He used to be an analyst at UBS and wrote a book about this very thing - ie what to look for in a balance sheet that should give warning signs. As a number of the banks clients were guitly of the described practices he was sacked. He now owns/runs Collins Stewart and is worth a fair few pennies.
you will not be able to look at a company's financial statements and be able to detect fraud. there simply isn't enough information in the filings. the ceos an cfos are not so stupid that they'll make public what they're trying to hide. of all the companies that turned out to be frauds, how many were detected by an auditor or wall street analyst beforehand? 0.
I'm about halfway through Howard Schilit's "Financial Shenanigans" and can recommend it. Good ideas; good case studies. Read more at http://www.amazon.com/Financial-She..._bbs_sr_1/104-3402117-1501502?ie=UTF8&s=books