Assignment 2: Discussion—Ensuring the Quality of a Financial Statement

Financial statement fraud is common these days. Phrases like "earnings management," "cookie jar accounting," and "accounting hocus-pocus" have entered our vocabulary. There have been innumerable instances of financial statement fraud perpetrated by many well-known companies over the years. These frauds not only result in a company's financial loss but also damage the company's reputation and brand and affect employee morale. In the role of a nonaccounting manager, you need to understand what your role is in the overall fair presentation of financial results.

In this assignment, you will recommend policies to avoid financial statement fraud and ensure the quality of financial statements.

Tasks:

• Use the Argosy University online library resources and find at least three scholarly journal articles. These articles will help you identify what can go wrong with financial reporting and how this should be prevented.
• Comment on at least three potential problems in reporting accounting information, including a specific example of earnings management. Note that all examples should be about specific company fraud.
• Articulate specific policies with respect to the discussed problems that will provide assurance that the financial statement is free from fraud and can be relied upon.
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•  Write your initial response in 300–500 words. Your response should be thorough and address all components of the discussion question in detail, include citations of all sources, where needed, according to the APA Style, and demonstrate accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation