Featured Articles

Gross incompetence at Overstock.com

Tracy Coenen
November 03, 2008 19:13

Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) and its “colorful” CEO Patrick Byrne have a history of something…. At worst, it’s a history of misleading investors with false information, incomplete and inaccurate disclosures, and phony accounting measures. At best, it’s a history of...

Recent Articles

Latest numbers: MPS still sucks

Tracy Coenen
January 02, 2009 15:05

If you’re new here, I should tell you that I’m a fan of writing about Milwaukee Public Schools. Not a fan of MPS, but a fan of writing about it. There’s just so much material to work with! We’ve got one of the worst school districts in the nation, hands down.  The district ...

Carnival of Fraud

Tracy Coenen
December 31, 2008 17:44

Welcome to the December 29, 2008 edition of carnival of fraud. Wenchypoo presents Update With Bonus: The “Con” in Lexicon posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket, saying, “An explanation of how mere words can rob us blind if we let them.” Peter presents...

Carnival of Personal Finance #185: Cheesehead Edition

Tracy Coenen
December 29, 2008 04:36

Welcome to the last Carnival of Personal Finance for 2008, The Cheesehead Edition.  I’m located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I send greetings from fellow Cheeseheads. We’ve had an interesting winter so far, with record-level snowfalls in December, followed by record high temperatures on ...

Property tax sticker shock

Tracy Coenen
December 26, 2008 15:48

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes today about the sticker shock property owners are having when they open their property tax bills. The taxes have gone up in general, but property owners are frosted because their assessments no longer match the real market value of their houses. The reality is...

Wondering why frauds at public companies aren’t being pursued by the Feds?

Tracy Coenen
December 25, 2008 04:00

Consumers are often left wondering why the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t heavily pursue allegations of fraud against public companies like Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK), Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA), Herbalife (NYSE:HLF), and the like. I’ve always said the answer is simple: There a...

How to make social media a total waste of time

Tracy Coenen
December 23, 2008 21:18

I admit it: I’m not a lover of all things social media. I am participating in the Facebook and Twitter discussions a bit begrudgingly. It’s not that I don’t think these tools work to grow businesses and create interesting discourse. They do. It’s just that as a solo, I have...

$65 million fraud via a shell company scheme

Tracy Coenen
December 23, 2008 18:33

The IRS is accusing Ausaf Umar Siddiqui, vice president of Fry’s Electronics Inc., of embezzling more than $65 million from the company via a shell company scheme. They say he used the money to pay gambling debts in Las Vegas A textbook shell company scheme would go like this: Set up a...

For students and job seekers: Becoming a fraud investigator

Tracy Coenen
December 22, 2008 03:07

I routinely get emails from students, job seekers, or the gainfully employed who want to make a career change… all asking me for advice on getting into the field of forensic accounting and fraud investigation. Here are my top three tips for getting into this field: Get a solid background in...

Big Three bankruptcy impact distorted

Tracy Coenen
December 18, 2008 16:00

Last week at the 2008 Inforum Outlook Conference, a presentation was given about the impact of potential bankruptcy filings of the Big Three automakers, GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The media has cited figures ranging from 2 million to 3 million jobs lost. A study of such bankruptcy filings found that...