The Decline of Accountants and Challenges Faced in the Profession

A pair of high-profile fraud trials are competing for headlines out of New York courtrooms, with accountants serving as marquee witnesses.

Accounting has been a common theme across both the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces federal fraud charges for allegedly siphoning customer funds from the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and the civil trial of former President Donald Trump, who is accused by the New York attorney general of inflating the value of real estate on years of his financial statements.

As financial frauds have become more complex, accountants increasingly play a role in court—as witnesses, experts, or even the accused.

On this episode of Talking Tax, Amanda Iacone, Bloomberg Tax senior reporter, spoke with Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant whose work has spanned frauds involving Enron, Parmalat, and Bernie Madoff. They talked about how the role of accountants in the courtroom has evolved and how their testimony has unfolded in these two trials.

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