Jacks and Jokers by Matthew Condon

Matthew Condon, Jacks and Jokers (St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press; Kindle edition, 2014), 466 pages.

Jacks and Jokers is the second book in a three book series about police corruption in Queensland, Australia from the 1960s through the late 1980s. This book covers the mid 1970s through the mid 1980s. It provides exquisitely detailed accounts of various illegal and criminal activities in Queensland during that time and the manner in which some of these activities proceeded without police or State government interference. The numerous stories of illegal and criminal behavior demonstrated various degrees of police (and at time government) complicity, co-operation, approval and involvement. The author goes beyond explaining the scope of the crimes and the level of police corruption to show how elements of the Queensland became a law unto themselves, having changed from being a tool in the administration of justice to being a political arm of government and an organizer or overseer of various protection rackets involving narcotics, prostitution and illegal gaming.

Crime has been around for a long time, since the times of Cain and Abel, or if you prefer, Romulus and Remus. Baring some dramatic shift in human nature, its likely to continue. We shouldn't be surprised then to read of it in its various forms, including murder, bribery, corruption, prostitution, drugs and gambling. THis book covers a lot of these sorts of crimes. What surprises this reader is the scale of these activities the in one region of Australia, and the extent of police involvement and government blindness to the police force's involvement in its operation, control and management. This book does very well in documenting these activities. Some of these crimes have been reported in other book and publications, and others have come to light by involved persons disclosing them to the author following the publication of the author's first book in this series. This second book by Condon shines a light on these troubled time in Queensland, Australia. Its well written, but readers should be cautioned that after a while they may tire of continuos chapters of illegal and criminal activities with no opportunity for catharsis of the emergence of an heroic figure. For this, we will have to wait for the third book in the series to be published.

Payroll Accounting by Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland

Bernard Bieg and Judith Toland, Payroll Accounting (Cengage Learning; Independence, KY; 2014) 496 pages.

This is a college textbook for students of payroll accounting. It covers all of the topics related to the subject of payroll accounting, as it applies in the United States. The topics covered include:

• Social Security taxes
• Medicare taxes
• Federal and State unemployment taxes, and
• Federal individual income tax withholding.

Also included with this book is a CD-ROM with payroll templates, and the relevant templates students can use to complete a payroll project. Some editions of this book come with an electronic key for on-line assignments and graded quizzes. Be careful if you buy this book to ensure that the electron key is included, and if your particular course requires it. In short, this is a good example of a comprehensive textbook on United States payroll accounting..

A virtue of this book is that all chapters are of a similar length with each devoted to a specific topic. All topics are covered in sufficient detail for a college level payroll accounting class. He explanations of concepts are clear. Each chapter has a useful review section. The on-line grading and assessment consisted of weekly quizzes, plus med-term and end of term exams. The quizzes were straight forward application of material covered in the text. Quiz and exam format comprised true/false questions and multiple choice questions. Some of these questions used imprecise language that are likely to confuse students who struggle with English grammar, or have a first language other than English. The exams can be a source of frustration confuse due to their reliance on grammar, double-negatives and deliberately imprecise language.

Overall, this is an adequate entry-level payroll accounting textbook, even if it is somewhat expensive. But what textbook isn't expensive these days?