01-15-2014 Accounting Scandals and Detecting Financial Irregularities
Wednesday, January 15th, 2014
Thomas R. Robinson, PhD, CFA
Managing Director, Americas
Accounting scandals are not new and tend to occur during economic downturns when some companies have incentives to dress up their financial statements to mask problems and perhaps improve managerial compensation. Tom Robinson presents the highlights of some of the more prominent accounting scandals from McKesson and Robbins in the 1930s to WorldCom, Satyam and Sino Forest in recent years. The presentation will highlight common threads in these scandals and what we can learn from them to assist us in detecting financial irregularities in the future (such as ratio and cash flow analysis). The presentation also includes:
- How financial statements “articulate” or fit together
- A framework for examining a company for potential problems
- Warning signs and red flags to look for
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Tom Robinson provides leadership to CFA Institute’s largest region – the Americas – including Canada, the US, the Caribbean and Latin America. He leads a cross-functional Americas Engagement Team which participates in developing global strategy, implements the global strategy regionally and engages with stakeholders regionally.
Until April 2013, Tom served as Managing Director of Education, providing vision and leadership for a 100-member global team producing and delivering educational content for candidates, members, and other investment professionals. Dr. Robinson joined CFA Institute as Head of Educational Content in 2007. Previously, he was an accounting faculty member at the University of Miami, serving as Director of the Master of Professional Accounting Program and Personal Financial Planning programs. He primarily taught graduate courses in financial statement analysis, personal financial planning, and valuation. Concurrently, he was managing director of a private wealth investment advisory firm and served as a consultant in valuation and financial statement analysis. Prior to working in academia, Dr. Robinson worked in public accounting, performing tax and financial planning services.
Throughout his academic career, Dr. Robinson has won several teaching awards and has published regularly in academic and professional journals. Dr. Robinson has authored or co-authored many books, including:
- International Financial Statement Analysis (Wiley and CFA Institute, 2008)
- Equity Asset Valuation (Wiley and CFA Institute, 2010)
- The New Wealth Management: The Financial Advisors Guide to Managing and Investing Client Assets (Wiley and CFA Institute, 2011)
- The Strategic Value Investor (McGraw Hill, forthcoming)
- Asian Financial Statement Analysis: Detecting Financial Irregularities (Wiley, forthcoming)
Dr. Robinson is a CFA charterholder, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) (Ohio), a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master's and doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. He was active both locally and nationally as a volunteer for CFA Institute and CFA Miami prior to joining the CFA Institute staff.
As a participant in the CFA Institute Approved-Provider Program, the
CFA Society of Los Angeles has determined that this program qualifies
for 1 credit hours. If you are a CFA Institute member, CE credit for
your participation in this program will be automatically recorded in your CE Diary.
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM, Lunch
Location: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles
506 South Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90071-2607
Parking: Hotel Valet Parking: $20.00
Self-Parking at Pershing Square (located directly across the street on Olive St.): $10.00
Dress Code: Business Casual
Payment Information:
Methods of payment accepted: Visa/Mastercard, American Express and Discover. If you prefer to pay by check please register online and select "purchase order" as your payment option and enter your last name as the purchase order number. Mail check to: CFA Society of Los Angeles, 520 S. Grand Ave, Suite 370, Los Angeles CA 90071.
*Credit card payments will only be accepted through the secure online registration, and not by phone or email.
