This paper reviews Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman's Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America, with a focus on fraud in accounting and auditing. It examines how financial misstatements, falsified records, and compromised audits harm not only direct victims but also communities and society at large. The paper discusses the authors' central argument that "sociopathic greed" drives white-collar crime, explores the use of case studies to illustrate victim impact, and considers policy responses—including stricter auditing standards and harsher sentencing—aimed at curbing the rising tide of financial fraud. The Enron collapse is cited as a landmark example of the universal reach of white-collar criminal behavior.
There are many types of white-collar crime present in modern society, including fraud as it relates to accounting and auditing. This paper focuses on white-collar crime with specific attention to the issues facing accountants and auditors who commit these crimes, and the organizations they serve.
Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman address the subject of fraud and white-collar crime in their work, Profit Without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America. This book provides readers with an overview of the many types of white-collar crimes occurring in the United States, including fraudulent actions in accounting and auditing. Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman (2004) note how history is infamous for demonstrating the many ways that institutions create, distribute, and store money, and how easily employees can gain access to those funds. The manner in which money is stored, according to the authors, is partly responsible for what they describe as the "evolution" of white-collar crime.
Bergevin (2004) observes that the authors tend to focus on the victims of crime, using numerous case studies to illustrate how white-collar crime impacts victims rather than criminals. This approach is one that many law enforcement agencies are now adopting in an attempt to help offenders recognize the real-world consequences of their actions on honest, hard-working civilians and on the organizations for which employees work. Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman (2004) note that families, communities, and society as a whole are all affected by white-collar criminal activity.
Many white-collar crimes involve accounting and auditing fraud, where company or small business representatives may make misstatements or attempt to falsify information in accounting records — either to make a company appear more profitable than it is or to conceal actual profits from tax authorities. In this way they commit a crime of "profit without honor," reaping the rewards of increased revenues or reduced tax liability without properly reporting those profits to the government. Auditors share a significant portion of the blame, as they are frequently pressured or bribed by clients to make documentation "look good" during audits — an arrangement that directly violates the code of ethics all accounting professionals are bound to uphold (Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman, 2004).
This book offers an excellent perspective on why white-collar crime is just as damaging as blue-collar crime: in both cases, real victims suffer. Those victims often learn to mistrust or become cynical about the loyalty and integrity of the accountants they hire. That cynicism can spread into other areas of life, affecting how individuals view their community and the people around them. Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman (2004) identify a broader problem in America involving the "forces that keep the economy working" at optimal levels (p. 340). The authors, along with critics such as Bergevin (2004), argue that "sociopathic greed" is the central driver of white-collar crime — a theme Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman reinforce throughout the book with case study evidence (p. 125).
"Equivalence argument and rising white-collar crime trends"
"New laws, stricter auditing, and sentencing reform"
This book is a testament to the need for dramatic change in government policy to gain control of white-collar crime before it becomes so insidious that it is impossible to prevent or detect. White-collar crime continues despite many efforts by law enforcement agencies and government officials to deter it. For this reason, Rosoff, Pontell, and Tillman make a compelling point: white-collar crime is every bit as harmful and malicious as other forms of crime and must be addressed with commensurate seriousness. Without meaningful reform, this nation and many others risk facing severe economic and social consequences stemming from the actions of a relatively small number of individuals who nonetheless make devastating changes to the broader society. It is time for the public to become informed and to allow their voices and protests about white-collar crime to be heard.
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