Dig to the root of public fraud with deep exploration of theory, standards, and norms

Preventing Fraud and Mismanagement in Government identifies common themes in public fraud and corruption, describes the forces that drive them, and provides an objective standard of good practices with no political bent. From Bridgegate to Iran-Contra, this book walks through the massive scandals that resulted from public mismanagement and fraud to illustrate how deeply-entrenched, entity-specific norms can differ from actual best practices. The discussion includes the theoretical underpinnings of public fraud, and how intense corporate culture and limited exposure to outside practice standards can lead to routine deviation from normal behavior and moral standards. You'll find a compendium of practices that illustrate actual norms, allowing you to compare your own agency's culture and operations to standard practice, and contrast the motivations for fraud in the public and private sectors.

Public agencies and governmental entities are generally driven by a pubic benefit or goal, but are widely varied in the ability and desire to deliver value while retaining best practices. This book explicitly explores the common patterns of agency practices and cultural norms, and describes how they can easily cross over into illegal acts.

• Understand why fraud exists in the public sector
• Discover how your agency's mindset diverges from the norm
• Review cases where agency practices diverged from best financial practices
• Learn good practices in an objective, nonpolitical context

The government/public sector provides some of the most basic services that are critical to a functioning society. Lacking a profit motive, these agencies nonetheless show a pattern of fraud and borderline behavior that could be mitigated with the adoption of standards and best practices. Preventing Fraud and Mismanagement in Government shares a canon of knowledge related to public operations and fraud, providing deep insight into the causes, solutions, and prevention.

JOSEPH R. PETRUCELLI is a founding partner of PP&D Accounting Services Inc. and Fraud Forces Inc., where he provides forensic accounting, tax, and consulting services. A recognized expert in forensic accounting, he is the author of Detecting Fraud in Organizations.

JONATHAN R. PETERS is a professor of finance in the business school at the College of Staten Island of The City University of New York.

Klappentext

Public agencies and government entities provide many of the most basic public services, but without profit incentive and other competitive drivers, even a respectable company can slip into questionable norms. This complete examination pulls the curtain back on the most common ways employees in government organizations commit fraud and other illegal acts.

With the same practical sensibilities found in his widely popular Detecting Fraud in Organizations, forensic accounting expert Joseph Petrucelli digs into the systems of mismanagement and fraud in day-to-day activities particular to government and public entities, with profound insight from industry educator Jonathan Peters. Written with an enriching balance of theory and real-world practice, this much-needed guidebook shines a light on how mismanagement and fraud happen in the face of regular oversight. It fully prepares you to recognize the covered misdeeds in a variety of circumstances through enlightening examples and lessons learned from a wide variety of actual cases, including the Bridgegate political scandal in New Jersey and the Iran-Contra affair. The specialized material in this convenient resource gives you superior advantage over those who have a general fraud background by enabling you to:

• Gain full insight into the many types of sector-specific fraud, including those that do not involve money, such as theft of time, gifting jobs to unqualified candidates, and hiring one person for numerous positions
• Develop a complete understanding of how various agencies work and what abnormal behaviors look like
• Comprehend the nuanced variations in laws, rules, and practices between state and federal law and how enforcement and policy-making works

The overall goal, however, is to establish a culture with a strong moral compass to prevent illegal acts before they happen, and this prescriptive guide features a common ground of implementable empirical best practices to ensure entities deliver their full value. Efficient management starts with Preventing Fraud and Mismanagement in Government.

Inhalt

Foreword vii

Preface ix

Introduction xiii

Acknowledgments xv

About the Authors xix

Chapter 1: Government and How It Works 1

Chapter 2: Public Finance and How Government Creates Cash Flow 61

Chapter 3: Accounting for Government 117

Chapter 4: Who Works in Government and What Is Their Motivation? 191

Chapter 5: Fraud in Public Agencies: Horse Trading or Stealing? 247

Chapter 6: Corrupt Policies and Actions 325

Chapter 7: Policing of Public Corruption and Fraud 371

Chapter 8: Final Thoughts 401

Appendix: Tables 457

Index 497