Accounting Fraud Book...Bit of a Sleeper.

Finished What Every Investor Needs to Know About Accounting Fraud. Well, I didn't really finish it, I read about two-thirds of it and ended up skimming the rest. It's written by a professor, so things are very logical and if you're a student or new to investing it could be a good one to pick up, but for guys like me (who have been in the markets for 10+ years) it didn't add much. In the end, like so many other books out in the last few years, the advice is: buy mutual funds or ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and trust no one. Well, thanks, but that doesn't really make you a better investor--it just moves the asset management function to a manager (which the author already said were part of a brutal system) or to a formula (which ends up weighting you in larger companies such as Enron who may end up going under anyways). So, if you're new to accounting and investing it's pretty good, but otherwise look for something with more meat in it.

Actually, that's just what I'm about to do. I spent much of today figuring out a scenario that would help out a client and am a little braindead right now. Time to take a walk to the library, get a new book and get on the train.