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Tell me about your experiences as a forensic accountant.
As you know, I'm a professor. In the late 1980s I wrote an educational novel called The Ultimate Rip -Off: A Taxing TaU, published by Thomas Horton & Daughters. It's now in its fourth edition and has been used by a number of tax professors at universities and colleges. Anyway, I decided to write more novels, but I needed an exciting accountant as the main character. The term "forensic accounting" was beginning to appear in the literature, so I started using Lenny Cramer, a forensic accountant and professor, as my exciting character in my novels. I have published a total of 12 novels, some with the pen name Iris Weil Collett.
Why did you use a pen name?
Interesting story. After I had written my first novel while at Texas A&M, I sent a draft copy to LSU for someone to review. My boss heard about the novel, called me into his office, and told me not to write a novel. He said that if I decided to write a novel, I should not write a single word on campus. My middle daughter, Dana, and I sat down and came up with the pen name. You need to say Iris Weil Collett. Think taxation. Of course, the next year Texas A&M was put on some kinds of sports probation with some negative press. My novel release received a bunch of favorable press in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Business Week, and more.
Any other experiences?
Well, my Forensic and Investigative Accounting textbook is in its third edition. Likewise, although I am not aggressive, I do work on a few forensic accounting cases each year, and I teach a two-day forensic accounting course in the U.S. and internationally - such as Malaysia, Vietnam, and Guam. I like to teach.
Why is forensic accounting so important and how does it fit into the big picture of business and accounting?
Gordon Brown said it best...