Imagine the following scene: A man enters a church wearing an expensive Swiss watch and an elegant wool suit. The ushers immediately notice the tailored suit and the fine watch.

When a finance manager in a large organization goes through the accounts at year end – or when an auditor works through the books to prepare the audited report – there can sometimes be a stray item in the accounts (an unfamiliar or unexpected line) that needs to be identified, explained and put in the right column.

On Oct. 31, 1517, a young university lecturer and Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the All Saints Church at Wittenburg. His 95 theses constituted a list of objections to the dominant Roman Catholic beliefs and practices of his time.

Recently, a group of archaeologists announced a major new find in the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Petra is one of the world’s most significant archaeological sites. It had seemed that all the major archaeological structures had been found at this site.

Perhaps the most famous story of fraud in modern history is that of New York stock broker Bernie Madoff. Madoff was one of the biggest names in finance in New York, and his 4800 clients were devoted to his fund as a remarkably solid performer.