Yes, that's the going rate this year for a 30 second advertisement during the Super Bowl... $2.7 million. If that sounds too high, you should buy in bulk like Anheuser-Busch, and pay only about $2 million per spot.

And don't forget, that only gets you the airtime. You still have to pay to have a commercial created and filmed. And with that much money on the line, you can be sure that companies are spend a bundle to try to make their commercials memorable.

But how memorable is advertising these days? How many commercials can you remember from last year's Super Bowl? I'd be surprised if you remembered any more than one or two. So there's a lot of hype and prestige that goes along with advertising during the year's most popular sporting event on television, but who knows if it's really worth the money. With traditional media outlets losing importance in this online age, I'd rather bet a company's money on other advertising avenues.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.