Audit

Time to shake things up

“Ikigai,” the Japanese notion of being truly fulfilled and how a person’s work relates to their purpose, spurred former paralegal Tracy Swaim to seek more. Conversations with a fraud investigator excited her about entering the field. She earned her CFE and now works in a job that checks all the boxes for her: mission, passion, vocation and profession.

Open public entities’ ledgers for transparency

Imagine if citizens, journalists, oversight agencies, and internal and external auditors were able to view all transactions of taxpayer and donors’ money online. The fraud prevention and deterrence possibilities are endless.

Keys to the kingdom: Oilfield fraud

Jerry thought he had it made in the shade. As he began his company maintaining oil rigs and equipment, he'd found ways – the keys to the kingdom – to fraudulently bill his former employer as a contractor. He knew how to thoroughly exploit the system he'd helped devise. Learn lessons from this fictionalized version of an actual $2 million fraud case.

5 most scandalous frauds of 2020

We were all glad to discard our 2020 calendars. Fraudsters took advantage of COVID-19 conditions, but not all of them needed an pandemic to pull off some big frauds. We've distilled a long list of cases to give you a few shockers.

Dusting your data for fraud's fingerprints: Six number patterns that fraudsters use

Fraudsters tend to steal in similar ways. Here are six number patterns you can search for and possibly find hidden fraud. Learn from the acclaimed authority on Benford’s Law on how numbers can become your best friends.

Prevent procurement ‘leakages’ and save precious working capital

Given the current economic climate and regulatory expectations, monitoring procurement spending for fraud, waste and abuse (aka “leakage”) is even more important. We can proactively monitor procurement data via big data analytics, which will reveal transactions that are fraudulent or diminish working capital.

Analyzing Wirecard case via temptation, opportunity, entitlement and boldness

COVID-19 loan fraud, gaming the system and more

Sudhir Gidwani, CFE

Sudhir Gidwani, CFE, says in 1984 he first found tremendous joy piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of unearthing fraud during his investigation of the collapse of a major local bank in Hong Kong. “As my experience in fraud and corruption investigations developed, I became more passionate about what I was doing,” he says.

Meet Taz Kalolwala, CFE

Kalolwala has worked her way up the corporate ladder during the course of her career, but it’s her people skills and team-nurturing abilities that sets her apart. She advises fellow CFEs to remain humble and continuously seek help from other anti-fraud professionals.

Why audits fail

A bond of trust joins auditors with all who depend on the accuracy and completeness of their findings. But venal executives, captured regulators and compromised auditors can subvert that bond, betray confidence and dissipate capital. This article offers key insights and best practices to help CFEs — including those who are auditors — expose and mitigate threats to audit reliability.

The smoke detector

Howard Wilkinson smelled smoke when he was a trader for the Estonian branch of Danske Bank. The fire he discovered is a $230 billion debacle — possibly the largest-ever money-laundering scheme. Wilkinson’s investigative skills could help accelerate European reforms.