Cookin' the Book$: Say Pasta la Vista to Corporate Accounting Tricks and Fraud / Edition 1

by Don Silver

Overview

If you own stocks or mutual funds or have an IRA or retirement plan, protect yourself against corporate food poisoning by reading Cookin' the Book$: Say Pasta La Vista to Corporate Accounting Tricks and Fraud. This book may become your veritable financial food taster.

Through this humorous, yet enlightening tale of a corporate chef’s wise advice to his son, discover the cookin’ secrets of corporate accounting that can turn into financial disaster for you. See how to spot the tricks and how to avoid them--maybe even make our corporations and their leaders more ethical in the process.

Finances (and food) will never be the same after you digest this book.


About the Author

Don Silver is a personal finance columnist, writer, editor and the author of eight highly praised books including Baby Boomer Retirement (“Astute and provocative”—Los Angeles Times) and The Generation X Money Book (“Outstanding book”—USAToday.com). He is also an educational consultant for The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition Teacher Guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780944708705
Publisher:	Adams-Hall Publishing
Publication date:	01/28/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.40(d)

Table of Contents

Prologue
Brief History of Cookin’

• English Fishy and Chips
• French Soufflé
• American Apple Pie

Four Basic Corporate Recipes for Cookin’ the Books The ABCDs of Cookin’
10 Ways Corporations Cook Revenues

• 1: Eating Tomorrow’s Meals Today
• 2: Pretending Your Neighbor’s Food is Yours
• 3: You Scratch My Dinner Plate and I’ll Scratch Yours
• 4: Borrow Lunch Money and Increase Your Revenue
• 5: Buying Dinner at Your Own Restaurant Isn’t a Sale
• 6: Giving a Free Lunch Doesn’t Increase Sales
• 7: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
• 8: Getting In On the Gravy Train
• 9: Scrambled Nest Eggs
• 10: Everything But the Kitchen Sink

10 Ways Corporations Cook Expenses

• 1: Remaking Yesterday’s Dinner Today
• 2: What’s the Daily Special?
• 3: Mislabeling the Ingredients
• 4: Preserves and Reserves
• 5: Mixing Ingredients in the Right Order
• 6: Finding the Missing Ingredient
• 7: Crockery Pot Accounting—Doing the Slow Simmer
• 8: Going Beyond the Expiration Date
• 9: Quenching Your Thirst
• 10: Keeping Track of the Essential Ingredients

A Financial Self-Defense “Menual”
20 Tips for Getting Around the Corporate Kitchen

• 1: If Management Won’t Eat the Food, Should You?
• 2: Avoid Leftovers
• 3: Lemons and Lemonade
• 4: Nothing Stays Fresh Forever—Buy to Sell
• 5: Don’t Get Stuck Picking Up the Check
• 6: Always Add Up the Check
• 7: Is There Cash in the Register?
• 8: The Perfect Dessert
• 9: Being Overwhelmed by the Menu
• 10: Changing the Recipe Midstream
• 11: Paying for the Next Course
• 12: Ordering Items Not on the Menu
• 13: Ice Cream Redux
• 14: Acquisition Indigestion—Buying Ingredients Isn’t the Same as Selling Dinners
• 15: Overcharging on the Menu
• 16: Where’s the Beef?
• 17: Make Sure the Flavor Isn’t Too Diluted
• 18: Don’t Forget to Include the Taxes
• 19: The Secret Ingredients
• 20: The Last Item on the Menu

Epilogue
About the Author
Index

Editorial Reviews

Brilliantly written, easy to read and with words to live and invest by. Don Silver is the new Og Mandino of ethical inspiration for the 21st century. A must read for anyone who doesn’t want to get burned by the ‘book cookers.
—President, Healthy Hour Enterprises

Robert L. Rosebrock

Excellent book. I couldn’t put it down.
—Consumer education and economics teacher (retired)

Joseph Lee

In Cookin’ the Book$ Don Silver serves up savory tales of unsavory corporate shenanigans, both past and present, to teach financial statement analysis in a palatable and even digestible form.
—CPA

Marilyn Ziemann

Don Silver serves up tasty wisdom for accounting-challenged investors who just can’t afford to lose their bread.
—CPA and President, Vasin, Heyn & Company (Auditors)

Rolland Vasin

Don Silver’s Cookin’ the Book$ is a necessary primer on the deceptive accounting practices of some contemporary firms.
—Ph.D., President of the Center for Academic Integrity (Duke University), Founding Director of the Center for Ethics and Public Life and Chair of the Philosophy Department, Kings College

Margaret Monahan Hogan

A great read. Silver is a financial genius with a bent for telling stories.
—UCLA Department of Business and Management Extension Instructor

Judy Shane

Humorous parable!

Publishers Weekly

Excellent book. Maybe our next generation of corporate leaders can be encouraged by Cookin’ the Book$ to become the women and men of character America needs.— Board member of the Center for Academic Integrity (Duke University) and Board member of the Character Education Partnership

Hyatt

Cookin' the Book$ by Don Silver is invaluable and very strongly recommended.

Midwest Book Review

With Cookin' the Book$, a new genre of literature has emerged: business ethics entertainment! Cookin' the Book$ stands alone as one of the funniest and straightforward works on business ethics in corporate America today.

Peter McGuire Wolf

Cookin' the Book$ is a delicious and perfectly cooked meal delivered in tasty morsels - a full menu of dirty tricks to watch out for.

Business Start Page