Attendees learn the latest principles and methods to use back home in the war against white-collar crime.
Mickey and the Association greeted anti-fraud practitioners with open arms at the 12th Annual Fraud Conference & Trade Show on Aug. 5 - 10 at the Walt Disney Dolphin Hotel.
Attendees had their choice of 48 breakout sessions among 12 tracks. During a working lunch, Barry Melancon, CPA, the president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs, spoke about that organization's efforts to evolve. During a general session, D. Brent Israelson, the founder and chairman of the board of iLumin Corporation, described technology that allows fully automated, legally binding online transactions, which are hedges against fraud. And during a working lunch, J. Steven Clark, described how his expense account transgressions led to his resignation as attorney general of Arkansas but also his personal rehabilitation.
Henry N. Pontell, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Criminology, Law and Society, School of Social Ecology, at the University of California, Irvine, received the Donald R. Cressey Award. And Board of Regent Member Dennis Dycus, CFE, CPA, CGFM, was honored as the newest Association Fellow, in recognition of his outstanding professional achievements and significant contributions to the field of fraud examination. The Association's first two Fellows, Regent Emeritus Martin T. Biegelman, CFE, CIA, and Joseph R. Dervaes, CFE, CIA, chair of the Board of Regents, also were honored.
Attendees visited a diverse group of fraud examination-related vendors during the accompanying trade show.
Prior to the Main Conference, anti-fraud practitioners learned about the identification, investigation, and prevention of off-book schemes during the Sunday Pre-Conference. (A full report of the Pre-Conference will appear in a future issue of The White Paper.) Some attendees stayed after the Main Conference for the two-day Post-Conference, which provided basic fraud examination techniques for auditors and investigators.
During the first general session of the Main Conference, Regents spoke on various fraud examination principles and practices. Dervaes, chairman of the Board of Regents and director of special investigations of the Washington State Auditor's Office, gave a report of the Regents' activities during the last year and implored Members to contribute to the Fraud Common Body of Knowledge. "The Association is always looking for Members who have valuable fraud information to share with their colleagues," he said. "I began a journey to document my life experiences in fraud investigation and to share them with others, and I encourage you to do the same."