Advice From the C-Suite — “Stay Skeptical”

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Advice From the C-Suite — “Stay Skeptical”

Fraud examiners understand that investing in fraud prevention and deterrence, along with resources to help investigate fraud, is pivotal for organizations of any size. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, fraudsters pounced on new opportunities created by the changing economic and working environment. However, along with an increase in fraud, many anti-fraud professionals saw their organizations cutting back on budget during this time due to the shifting economy. If convincing their C-suite to invest in anti-fraud resources was difficult before, the pandemic likely made that task even more challenging.

So what trends and areas of concern are executive-level anti-fraud professionals seeing today? In the panel discussion, “The C-Suite's View on Fraud,” at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, the participants offered a glimpse into their day-to-day lives as they balanced larger organizational business objectives during a time of international crisis while keeping an eye to the future for preventing fraud.

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Do Your Employees Want to Find Fraud?

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Do Your Employees Want to Find Fraud?

When ACFE Regent Kenneth Dieffenbach, CFE, took to the virtual stage at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, he reminded his audience of their pivotal role. “Fraud examination really does matter, no matter how tedious or lengthy investigations can be,” he said. He stressed the importance especially for fraud examiners working in the public sector. “No matter where you live, travel, or work, the government has to have the proper guardrails to fight and deter corruption. Some governments have a higher perception of corruption than others, but they’re all at risk for public and private corruption.”

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Delving Into the Psychology of Billionaire Fraudsters

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Delving Into the Psychology of Billionaire Fraudsters

Preet Bharara laughed when asked about how he feels about “Billions,” the TV show that is loosely based on his investigation of the hedge fund SAC Capital when he was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District Court of New York.

“It is fun for there to be a television show that is popular, even though it takes a lot of liberties, that is about the U.S. attorney as opposed to the district attorney … so that was nice,” he told ACFE vice president and general counsel John Warren, J.D., CFE, at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Keynote Speaker Video: Dan McCrum

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Keynote Speaker Video: Dan McCrum

"Instead of suspending the people involved, they had been promoted. Nothing had happened,” said investigative journalist for the Financial Times Dan McCrum in his Monday afternoon keynote address at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. "I knew this was a big break. For the first time we could really see inside the company. This is what you have to have to break these sorts of stories."

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German Regulators Investigate the Investigator During Wirecard Debacle

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German Regulators Investigate the Investigator During Wirecard Debacle

Like many fraud examiners, reporters often hate being part of their stories. They’d much rather remain in the background, asking the questions and discovering the facts. Dan McCrum, an investigative reporter for the Financial Times, described that less-than-ideal scenario in his keynote address during the Monday afternoon session of the virtual 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. McCrum is the recipient of the ACFE Guardian Award.

“I have pictures here of a couple of criminal suspects,” McCrum said as he showed photos on the screen of himself and Markus Braun, the former CEO of the infamous German company, Wirecard AG. Wirecard collapsed in June of 2020 when Braun announced that 1.9 billion euros of its funds were “missing.”

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Developing a Culture of Compliance: How Ethics and Risk Management Intersect

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Developing a Culture of Compliance: How Ethics and Risk Management Intersect

Despite the oft-invoked title of “ethics and risk management” for anti-fraud initiatives and professional roles, it’s occasionally difficult to put modes of compliance into practice that explicitly draw links between ethics and risk as symbiotic symptoms of each other. While it may be easy to identify potential risks within an organization, it’s harder to trace those risk opportunities back to an ethical aspect of the company’s culture that may be the foundational cause for a risk.

As part of the virtual 2021 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe, Dr. Attracta Lagan, co-principle of Managing Values, spoke with Dr. Klaus Moosmayer, the executive committee manager and chief ethics, risk, and compliance officer for Novartis, to discuss techniques for promoting an office culture that enhances ethical accountability as a means of reducing risk.

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What Fraud Examiners Can Learn About Report Writing from a Journalist’s Plagiarism Case

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What Fraud Examiners Can Learn About Report Writing from a Journalist’s Plagiarism Case

When investigating a financial fraud case, anti-fraud professionals know the importance of following established steps and best practices. From beginning an investigation, through collecting evidence and conducting interviews, they follow generally accepted guidance and document each stage in their final report. This diligence is important not just for financial fraud cases, but for other types of fraud — such as academic and journalistic fraud.

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