The article, “Spotting fraud during the bankruptcy process: Top red flags”, by Malia

Politzer seeks to address how Accountants should be vigilant against potential frauds. The
article addressed that amid the pandemic, a lot are triggered to shut down their businesses due
to default on payments and so in the middle of the process in filing bankruptcy they might
commit fraud in some ways.

Another influence, to help each other from doing such, transparency is the key. The
different domain generally lay down as to Accountants to know where to look out for them to
help one not to and tempted to fraud. These indications helps individuals specifically those who
has businesses and most importantly those in an accounting, but at the same time complicates
the topic as it might portray an idea to business owners to do so.

The author also emphasizes that committing fraud is rare as documents is thoroughly
vetted by many parties. Politzer sees this as “uncommon” and writes that it is rather more
common for the bankruptcy process to reveal of financial fraud that individuals or business
owners might have engaged in to avoid financial ruin. To support this claim the author uses the
statement from DeGraw, CPA/CFF. In addition, though this instances are said to be uncommon,
but with the pandemic the COVID-19 created a perfect fraud triangle. Politzer writes what
DeGraw says, "The shutdown has put tremendous pressure on individuals and businesses that
are struggling to survive, and that desperation can drive the people with opportunity to
rationalize committing fraud."

To such complicated issue the author sums the article up well by saying that
Accountants is a middlemen to individuals who has this depression of bankruptcy and further
commit fraud “"The bankruptcy process is there to give people a second chance," she said. "It's
a legal process, and not something that people need to be afraid of." Politzer indicates that
accountants should look for: Hidden or undervalued assets, Messy or misleading financial
records, Recent transfers of cash or high-value assets, Recent departure of key staff,
Preferential payments to creditors and lastly is to seek for expert advice.
 This is a good concept for how the problem of fraud should be handled and to help
individuals from not committing from it. The article has a concrete guidelines for carrying this
out. In other words, this sounds great on paper and also can translate as easily to everyday life.
The author does include many examples of actual circumstances. Politzer sites people who is
CPA like DeGraw and a lawyer like DelCottto which gives the article more reliable and authentic
as it involves statements from experts in the field.

Overall this article is very straightforward in the beginning and at the very end of the
pages where the article is headed. People will be engage and read the whole article as it has a
concise introduction and very timely. The example given on every indication of the topic also is
a good portion. Moreover, it is a good, well written article with an important message for
Accounting field, individuals and business owners. The piece, when taking as a whole, is
relevant and very convincing in theory, lays out a concrete way of approaching this complex
problem.