Fraud & Forensic Services

WARNING!

There are people out there that are going to try to take advantage of you.  From dishonest employees to unscrupulous vendors it will happen.  Unfortunately, it is usually the people you trust most that will ultimately betray you.  Don’t take our word for it.  All you need to do is read the news.

Investigations

We can help you by taking on various roles in fraud and other types of investigations such as HR related matters. Our investigations have included issues from bribery & kickbacks & embezzlement to allegations of sexual harassment. Some of our most common roles include:

• Performing investigations while engaged by outside legal counsel
• Leading internal investigations coordinated by Chief Legal Counsel
• Reviewing approaches and results of investigations performed by a third-party or a client’s internal group
• Assessing and an organization’s internal investigative protocols
• Training nontraditional investigators in  human resources, compliance, security, and internal audit

Some important tips to remember if you suspect fraud in your organization:

• Don’t accuse anyone
• Don’t rifle through anyone’s desk, locker or personal belongings
• Don’t search a suspects computer
• Don’t record conversations
• Don’t spy on suspects
• Don’t try to do the investigation yourself

Remember if you identify a potential fraud, it is best to reach out to a professional as soon as possible and don’t over-react.  We can help you determine what steps you may want to consider.  It is a best practice to contact your attorney to engage us if you believe that the suspected fraud or wrongdoing will result in prosecution or legal action.

Crisis Response

Fraud.global can have a team of professionals on the ground to help you within hours.  Time is critical when your organization is at risk.  We have partnered with GoSmart Air to ensure we can be there when you need us most.

Business Disruption

Concerned about negative publicity or disruption within your organization when conducting an investigation?  Fraud.global has experience operating discretely to minimize the investigation’s footprint.  We work with clients to understand their concerns structuring our presence accordingly.

Experience

When allegations of fraud occur, everyone wants to get involved and everyone seems to be an expert.  Read almost every CPA firms’ website and fraud and forensics will be listed as a service.  Consumers must beware.  Not everyone has the experience and skills needed to perform an investigation.

Forensic Accounting / Auditing

Making money but not able to pay your bills?  Not sure how the numbers are coming together?  Are your accounting records in a state of disarray?  If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may need a forensic accountant.  Generally speaking (and in summary format) when we conduct a forensic audit we do the following:

• Gain an understanding of your organization and get to know your employees
• Determine where the value resides in your business (i.e. cash, inventory, investments, intellectual knowledge, data, etc.)
• Analyze (and a lot of times organize) transactions (i.e. consider what the numbers should look like verses what they actually are), reconciliation and non-financial information to identify anomalies
• Look for red flags of fraud (accounting transactions that don’t add up, issues with cash or other things of value)
• Determine if there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to warrant an investigation (if applicable)
• Provide a report on our findings
• Assist with enhancing processes and controls to prevent future occurrences

Not every forensic audit reveals fraud.  Many times when we conduct a forensic audit we find sloppiness and human error.

Fraud Prevention

Good Business Practices Help Prevent and Deter Fraud.  The term “Anti-Fraud Programs and Controls” (AFPC) is for the most part simply good business practices. These business practices span many areas of your organization.  The bottom line is that if you have a well run business, you have many pieces in place from an anti-fraud programs and controls perspective.  Some of the key components include:

• Establishing the Right Tone Throughout the Organization
• Creating and Maintaining a Positive Work Environment (climate and culture)
• Hiring & Promoting the Right Employees
• Implementing & Testing Internal Controls
• Creating & Distributing Policies and Procedures
• Ethics Training
• Lines of Communication for Concerns (open door policy & independent concern line) Without Fear of Retaliation
• Understanding What Could Go Wrong (where are you vulnerable?)

Yes, simply running a solid business helps deter fraud!  Preventing fraud and deviant behavior in the workplace goes beyond internal controls (although they do play a critical role).  It comes down to the people.  Remember, internal controls are only as good as the people who execute them.  Without people, fraud could not occur.  Unfortunately in order to get anything accomplished, organizations must entrust people with things of value, hence there is always the risk of fraud.

We believe if you treat the people in your organization the way you want to be treated, you have just implemented one of the most effective anti-fraud controls!

Let Fraud.global help you tie critical business processes together to create effective anti-fraud programs and controls.

Fraud Detection

Our experience suggests that organizations learn about fraud two primary ways

• It is reported through a hotline or other mechanism

• An anomaly is identify through performing data analytics

Fraud.global can help you establish or maintain a hotline.  What is your current hotline data telling you?  We can help you interpret it.  In fact, hotline data points are one component of our fraud modeling described below.

We can also help you identify and implement a fraud data analytics program that will help you pinpoint anomalies that may be indicative of fraud.

Fraud Modeling

Where is your organization must susceptible to fraud?  Over the years we have developed an understanding of various data-points collected within an organization that can be used to identify areas that have a higher propensity for fraud.  Our proprietary modeling tool FraudSeeker has been proven successful.  No fraud risk assessment could ever come close to our fraud modeling program.

 

 

Contact us today for more information about how we can help your prevent, detect and respond to fraud in your organization.