The money left a trail. Here’s how to follow it.
Four field guides by a retired CPA auditor, for spouses, business partners, small business owners, and families settling an estate. Learn where the money goes, how to prove it, and how to protect yourself while you do.
Written by a retired CPA with decades of experience auditing companies and designing internal controls. Every chapter is built around real court cases and step-by-step checklists.
$500 prepaid card + $5.95 fee. That’s not printer ink.
The guides
Four downloadable PDF field guides by a retired CPA auditor. Buy any guide for instant download, or see what’s inside first.
A Survival Guide to Spousal Fraud and Hidden Wealth
The Innocent Spouse Handbook
By a retired CPA auditor
Financial Defense Publishing
For spouses who suspect hidden money
The Innocent Spouse Handbook
Sign a joint return and you can be liable for every dollar your spouse hid. Find it, document it, protect yourself.
73 pages
A Guidebook for Partners, Co-Owners, and Principals
The Small Business Fraud Detection Guidebook
By a retired CPA auditor
Financial Defense Publishing
For partners, co-owners, and officers
The Small Business Fraud Detection Guidebook
15 schemes partners and insiders use to drain a company, and how to prove and stop each one.
101 pages
An Auditor's Guide to Payment App Fraud
Detecting and Preventing Fraud using Payment Apps
for Small Business Owners
Financial Defense Publishing
For small business owners and partners
Detecting and Preventing Fraud using Payment Apps
for Small Business Owners
How business money gets diverted through Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, Zelle, and Apple Pay, and how to stop it.
57 pages
A Step-by-Step Guide to Settling a Loved One's Estate
The Estate Asset Recovery Handbook
By a retired CPA auditor
Financial Defense Publishing
For families settling a loved one’s estate
The Estate Asset Recovery Handbook
Find every account, policy, and property, protect the estate, and settle it, step by step.
72 pages
Checklists that tell you what to do next
Every checklist item in all four guides breaks down into numbered steps: what to pull, what to compare it to, and what to look for. You can work through them yourself, then hand the finished pages to your attorney.
Here’s one item from the Guidebook’s chapter on gift card schemes.
Checklist: Gift card indicators
Amounts with activation fees or round multiples flagged
- 1.In the spreadsheet, add a column showing each amount’s cents.
- 2.Flag amounts that equal a round card value plus a typical fee, such as $505.95, $506.95, or $1,011.90.
- 3.Flag round amounts in multiples of $25, $50, $100, or $500.
- 4.Look for: the same odd amount repeating month after month.
From Chapter 2, The Small Business Fraud Detection Guidebook
Written the way an auditor actually works
Documents, not hunches
You’ll learn which records prove what happened, where to get them legally, and how to read them, the same way an auditor tests a company’s books.
Real cases, with sources
Each scheme is paired with a real case from court records or government releases, linked so you can read the original yourself.
Protection for you, too
Fraud can leave the honest partner or spouse owing taxes and debts. Every guide explains your personal exposure and how to limit it, legally.
About the author
The author is a retired CPA auditor who spent decades designing and testing internal controls for companies large and small. He also knows financial deception from the inside, and these guides are the playbook he wishes he had followed.
Read the author’s storyFrom the field notes
Short, practical notes on hidden money, fraud, and protecting yourself, from a veteran CPA auditor.
November 1, 2026
Signs Your Spouse Is Hiding Money
Hidden money leaves a pattern long before it leaves a balance..
August 4, 2026
The Marriage With No Reviewer
Every organization I ever audited had segregation of duties.
July 22, 2026
Signing Returns You Never Read
A joint return is a joint liability.