Audit

Trust us ... we wouldn't lie to you

An accounting firm took on a new client from the advice of a good friend, but it didn’t conduct proper due diligence. Big mistake. During an inventory, the client’s CEO repeatedly lied to the author — a fraud examiner — and the external auditors he worked with. Here’s how to avoid fraudulent clients and keep your sanity.

A practical take on fortifying anti-fraud training

In my November/December 2017 column I wrote that academia should expand traditional forensic accounting programs so our future professionals can respond well to contemporary fraud issues. Many universities do include additional training on identifying and understanding fraudulent activities and are hiring more instructors with practical experience.

Key considerations in post-incident financial statement audits

Imagine an organization in the middle of an accounting investigation related to the recording of fictitious revenues. The organization’s external auditors have now come to perform the year-end audit and opine on the current year’s financial statements. The organization, as it should, informs the external auditors of the investigation. These auditors naturally begin to ask questions about the investigation.

Small town, huge fraud, insightful documentary

Kelly Richmond Pope, Ph.D., CFE, CPA, an associate accounting professor, has produced and directed a riveting documentary, “All the Queen’s Horses,” about Rita Crundwell’s historic $53 million embezzlement from the city of Dixon, Illinois.

Finding Fraud Through Internal Audit: 3 Case Studies (Webinar Archive)

In this archived webinar, you will learn about three fraud cases detected by internal audit, each of which led to criminal prosecution. You will discover what occurred, what opportunities existed that allowed the fraud to occur and the related fraudster behavior. Additionally, you will learn about the final outcome and how each of the frauds were detected, investigated and resolved.

Pharma Bro's trial a test for fraud prosecution

Martin Shkreli’s fraudulent activity as a hedge fund manager led to his arrest, trial and conviction on securities fraud. This is the first fraud trial since Bernie Madoff’s to garner such media attention, public interest and academic discussion. But that wasn’t just because of Shkreli’s reputation for frequently and outlandishly using social media or his lawyer quoting Lady Gaga in his opening statement.

In Toshiba's scandal, blame samurai code

The Toshiba Corporation has struggled since at least 2008 to meet its financial targets. In 2015, the company made a shocking admission: Because of its struggles, Toshiba had committed a multi-year $1.22 billion accounting fraud that culminated in the resignation of CEO Hisao Tanaka in July of that year. What made this most surprising was that Toshiba had been perceived as “a totem of strong and virtuous Japanese corporate governance.”

Auditing an organization's governance and ethics

An internal auditor usually analyzes an organization’s ethics when it has an important impact on other key governance aspects, such as risk management, compliance, strategy and how it conducts its business. Strong ethics helps an organization perform better. Here are some practical difficulties that auditors might face when auditing an organization’s governance (not an exhaustive list):

Do numbers lie?

Corporate management has significant latitude in choosing what numbers to report and when. But business pressures can cloud their judgment. This article examines how using accounting gimmicks and manipulating financial statements might satisfy investors but can cross into fraudulent territory.

Inventory inflation schemes come in many flavors

In this edition, I’ll examine some recent cases involving improper accounting for inventory resulting in overstated assets. As with so many of the companies in the cases I profile, the players in two of the three cases were motivated primarily by a desire to meet published or internal goals for gross profit.