Swindlers

I recently finished reading a book about swindlers and con artists, but not in the way that you might think.  This book talks about how the financial auditors and corporate management basically have their hand in the same pie, and the ultimate price is paid by the simple, average investor.

This is the book, and I highly recommend it:


Although this book focuses on the vulnerability of the Canadian Market, I think it's a good general read for anyone who wants to know more about the different schemes in the market, for example, there are example of different kinds of Ponzi schemes, financial trickery and other methods used by corporate executives to get paid at the expense of the average investor.

Swindlers talks a bit about how the Canadian market has become a great place for these scams because of the lack of prosecuting power as well as non-conflicted regulating bodies.  There is some focus on how the public mining companies listed in Canada exploit the loop holes for their benefit.

I would say that the book reads kinda boring at times, with repeating evidence of how the introduction of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) is going to allow more loopholes into the system.  But there are some very valid points that I don't think I would have read anywhere else.... the media certainly doesn't talk about this stuff!!