Creative Accounting & How to Spot It

Trainer: Mark Graham
Duration: 2 full days
Delivery: Online or in-person
Timing: 14 hours
Cost: R9,568 (incl VAT) per delegate. Best price guaranteed
“I can highly recommend this training for all investment analysts, especially if you’ve spent a couple of years away from your IFRS handbook or do not have a finance undergrad.”
~Runé Fernhout, Coronation Fund Managers

This course gives you the knowledge to identify signs of outright fraud or the bending of accounting rules to misrepresent an organisation’s financial statements. Prof. Mark Graham, an expert in accounting, teaches this course. He has watched, with both interest and disappointment, as corporate scandals reveal cases of fraudulent and creative accounting designed to exaggerate results. Through real-world examples and insights from his extensive experience, Mark offers practical guidance on spotting these deceptive practices.

This course will be especially useful to anyone who:

  • Needs to detect fraud or creative accounting when analysing financial statements
  • Wants to understand how accounting can be used to misrepresent outcomes
  • Serves on a company board and needs to ask informed questions before approving financial statements

Some basic accounting knowledge is helpful. If you’re concerned that your accounting skills might not be strong enough, consider first taking one of Mark’s other courses on Skillfully, Understanding Financial Statements.

Delivery method

  • Live, online sessions with Prof Mark Graham, who strongly encourages interaction and participation
  • Real-world, in-depth case studies based on the financial statements of well-known local and international companies that have used fraudulent or creative accounting
  • Pre-reading for those who wish to prepare
  • Constant emphasis on how to apply the course material in your own working life

Course outline

The course starts by exploring the broader picture of accounting and the ways creative accounting can misrepresent a business’s financial performance and position. We then dive into specific sections, such as the statement of comprehensive income, cash flows, and financial position, where financial trickery often occurs. Each technique is illustrated with authentic examples, with an emphasis on recognising ‘red flags’ that may signal issues. Participants will study well-known accounting scandals and apply this knowledge to two in-depth case studies of high-profile local cases.

Click below to book or ask about our offerings

Delivery: Online or in-person

Duration: 14 hours

Timing: Two full days (timing can be flexible)

Other info: Click "Ask a question" to find out more; or "Request a booking" to arrange an exclusive course for your team.

Cost: R9,568 (incl VAT) per delegate and R93,125 (incl VAT) for up to 10 delegates and an additional R4,277 (incl VAT) per additional delegate.

Click to ask us to contact you about a booking. Click to ask a question about this offering.
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“Mark Graham is by far the best lecturer at the GSB in my experience. Very knowledgeable, and so comfortable in front of the camera. I thoroughly enjoyed all his classes because he made the work simple, fun and interesting. He coached us along the way on how to approach analysing any company, what to ask and expect, and how to interact with them.”
~Hex Novea
“I think Mark is excellent. Extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. The course was engaging and interactive, which was quite refreshing. Thanks for a great course.”
~Anonymous feedback from Coronation Fund Managers
“Mark’s “Big Picture” diagram makes complete sense of the annual financial statements. He never gets lost in the weeds of detail. In the class, he is meticulously prepared, uncompromising in his desire to help students learn. And he takes his work seriously, but never himself.”
~Paul Maughan

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Mark Graham

Mark Graham

For three decades, Prof Mark Graham has helped current and aspiring businesspeople to understand finance. Ask anyone who has studied at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, and they are likely to name him as their favourite teacher.

Although his career was built teaching finance and accounting at the most advanced levels, Mark’s real passion lies in making finance and accounting accessible to those who need a more basic understanding of these topics, in order to run their businesses or communicate with the finance people in their organisation.

His unique style of teaching financial literacy was honed in the classes of UCT’s MBA, where he has been voted Best Lecturer almost every year for the past 20 years.

Academic credentials:
  • UCT Emeritus Associate Professor
  • Former Head of the College of Accounting, UCT
  • Taught accounting and finance at UCT’s College of Accounting and UCT’s Graduate School of Business for over 25 years
Commercial credentials:
  • Former Chartered Accountant (CA(SA)) and Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA)
  • Has occupied senior financial positions in the United Kingdom
  • Regularly presents public and in-house courses on various aspects of accounting, finance and integrated reporting
  • Consults on a wide variety of issues to accounting professionals in large corporations and in the “Big 4” accounting firms