4kids: I saw your post jumping on the knock down M

4kids: I saw your post jumping on the knock down Mr. Zack's reputation bandwagon.  Sigh.

Mr. Zack has written an academic book.  The JBI piece fell under the heading "Inflating the Basis of Assets in Non-Cash Transactions".  It takes up a few pages of the books to illustrate the topic.

I don't know how Mr. Zack ran across the JBI case.  I suspect he was looking for something that covered this topic and the JBI case fit the bill.

I have received a response to my email that I sent him.  I have responded with a follow up question.

Here was his initial response:

Good morning Jon,

Thanks for your message. JBI is one of 70 cases that I selected for my book. Each case 

was selected based on my desire to illustrate a variety of different accounting issues. 

JBI presented some accounting issues that were unique and interesting - particularly 

the accounting issues surrounding media credits.

All of the cases profiled in my book involve some form of accounting misstatement in 

the financial statements, meaning the accounting standards were violated. I 

separately deal with the issue of whether or not accounting misstatements represent 

fraud (i.e. it may simply be an accounting error, unless there is an intent to deceive, 

which makes it fraud). In JBI's case, there clearly was an accounting misstatement, so 

it was a useful case to illustrate the specialized accounting principles that apply to 

that area. The fact that all fraud-related allegations have not yet been resolved 

doesn't diminish the value of the example that JBI provides of the risks associated with 

the accounting issue itself.

So, the book is first an accounting book, designed to illustrate the complexities of 

certain areas of accounting, particularly those that involve a lot of judgment. Extensive 

use of judgment and estimating is what presents a risk of fraud, which is the next goal 

of the book - to enable investors like yourself, as well as analysts and others, to be 

able to identify areas of risk in any set of financial statements. 

Thanks again for your note. I hope this helps put the JBI reference in perspective.

Best regards,

Gerry Zack

I will follow up if there is something useful in his response.