From the Publisher:
What comes to your mind when someone mentions white collar crime? Ponzi schemes, security frauds, insider trading, accounting scandals, maybe money-laundering… A lot of money, loud headlines… But the truth is that the most common, the most sizable because of its prevalence, and the most frequently charged as felony white collar crime is embezzlement – the appropriation of funds by the very people entrusted with managing and safeguarding them. The people who fail to resist the temptation of their proximity to money.
Just like the author of this memoir did. After 25 years of spotless track record and high work ethics, this CFO suddenly began stealing from her employer, embezzled millions, got caught, and went to prison… How did decades of honest hard work resolve into theft and incarceration? What kind of a Molotov cocktail of circumstances and prerequisites led to such a grim transformation?
This is a story that is acutely personal, yet in many ways quite typical… Part chronicle, part cautionary tale – the revelatory memoir, conceived out of need to repent, unflinchingly analyzes the genesis of the author’s moral deterioration and its psychological underpinnings, examines the specifics of this white collar crime and its aftermath.
The author’s conversational style – which previously eased readers into the complexities of CFO Techniques (2011)– here, yields a compelling and courageous account of the quest for the inner clarity under the most oppressive conditions, in the grittiest of places…
From the Readers:
Frank, Honest, Confessional
I am impressed with Marina Zosya’s unflinching invitation to step up close and observe through the pages of this memoir her journey from the darkness of psychological deterioration and white-collar crime towards the glimpses of clarity… Unfolding her moral decay against the background of, what she calls, ‘professional servitude’… she dives into the revelatory details of the most personal nature – eating disorder, OCD, self-harm – as well as the mechanical aspects of the embezzlement acts she committed.
From the Publisher:
CFO Techniques: A Hands-on Guide to Keeping Your Business Solvent and Successful is a comprehensive and instructive working manual for multitasking chief financial officers and controllers working in the fast-paced commercial environment. Every senior financial professional with an ever-broadening span of control will benefit from this complete outline of the core activities―with specific descriptions of individual tasks―comprising the daily agenda of a successful CFO or controller. It covers everything from traditional responsibilities like budgeting and financial reporting, to more innovative tasks like performance analytics and business strategy development.
While emphasizing specific guidelines on what it takes to excel as a company’s head of finance, the book refrains from overwhelming dryness by using cultural references, real-life examples, and a casual tone. With its bite-sized, easy-to-read chapters, CFO Techniques serves as both an invaluable desktop reference handbook and a good bedtime read. Whether you need a quick recommendation on treasury procedures, adhering to GAAP, keeping funds safe from embezzlers, or advice on dealing with the CEO, you will find the answers in this book.
- Guides you through CFO/controller core responsibilities, function by function
- Serves as a reference manual on financial matters specific to the small and mid-size commercial environment
- Goes beyond finance and accounting, addressing the administrative and behavioral issues all CFOs occasionally must address.
From the Readers:
This book is a pretty complete guide/overview of what a CFO does and how. Concrete examples, dos and don’ts.
It is remarkable to get all this information for this comparably cheap price. Many other CFO books are far less concrete and less complete.
Excellent book. I would recommend it to any person in the role of controller and accounting manager. A must read.
I found this book an excellent source for a CFO of a smaller organization. I purchased two books; this book and The Essential CFO: A corporate Finance Playbook (Wiley, May 1, 2012). Of the two books, hands-down, this was the book that I needed. Each chapter is broken into easy to comprehend summaries with the benefit of less words, more knowledge distilled. I gained the knowledge that I needed in a short period of time…
This book is a quick-and-easy to understand read; that contains valuable information that every new, or experienced, CFO needs to know. It seems a excellent fit for a smaller organization’s owner, CFO, or experienced CFO, that prefers short-and-concise information.I highly recommend this book!!
The Frustrated CFO 