If you've ever read one of Herb Greenberg's investigative columns on companies like Novastar Financial Inc. (NYSE: NFI), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NASDAQ: KKD), or Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) and wondered "How does he figure all that stuff out?", then Financial Shenanigans is the book for you.

Written by Howard Schilit, a leading authority on accounting fraud and American University Professor, this book takes a look at some of the most common ways companies manipulate their financial results: recording revenue too soon, recording bogus revenues, boosting income with one-time gains, shifting current expenses to a later period, failing to disclose liabilities, shifting current income to a later period, and shifting future expenses to the current period.

Schilit uses quick examples from numerous companies, including L.A. Gear, Crazy Eddie, Jiffy Lube, and MDC Holdings. Rather than providing detailed accounts of the stories behind each company, he highlights one or two ways that they used financial shenanigans to mask the true results of their businesses.

Even if you don't want to be an armchair financial detective, this book will make you a more critical analyst of financial statements as you look for companies to invest in. It's very readable and contains a nice introduction to accounting in the back, making this a book that might actually be an ideal introduction to to reading financial statements: and certainly a lot more entertaining than most others.

You can get a copy used on Amazon for less than $3.