Index White-Collar Crimes Corporate Fraud Conclusion White-Collar Crimes Forensic accountants often investigate white-collar crimes. White collar crime was first presented in 1939 by Edwin H. Sutherland, an American sociologist. Sunderland found that white-collar crimes were generally committed by people of respectable or high social status in the course of their employment. The main types of white collar crimes are corporate fraud, Ponzi schemes, embezzlement, extortion, money laundering, identity theft, and counterfeiting. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Corporate Fraud One of the major white-collar crimes investigated by forensic accountants is corporate fraud. Through manipulation of a company's financial data, a company's value, stock price, and financial performance are manipulated to make the company's performance appear favorable to investors, employees, and others. Manipulation of financial records can include falsified or off-book accounting records and financial statements, evasion of regulatory oversight, insider trading, and tax violations. One of the major cases of corporate fraud involves Enron. Enron, an energy trader and supplier, was founded in 1985. In 1999, they created a trading website focused on buying, selling, and trading energy commodities. Enron was a party to every transaction on the trading site as both buyer and seller. In late 2000, Enron was starting to collapse financially, but their CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, hid the losses. They were able to deceive regulators by using non-accounting accounting methods called market-to-market accounting, this method made it appear that the company was showing higher profits than it earned. They also created special purpose entities, which is not illegal, however they used these entities to hide their problem assets, keeping them on Enron's financial books. Enron's accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, knowingly signed off on the financial statements despite knowing about their shady accounting practices. Through the work of federal forensic accountants, many criminal charges and guilty pleas range from wire and securities fraud to insider trading and conspiracy. Conclusion White collar crimes are non-violent, financially motivated crimes perpetrated by businesses, individuals, and government professionals. According to the FBI, the motivation behind these crimes is to obtain or avoid losing money or assets for personal or business gain. White collar crimes are often considered privileged crimes and often go unnoticed due to the criminal's relative power and status in society, generally because they are high-ranking corporate executives with influence and resources.