This year, I have focused on the fraud risk assessment process as both a management tool and an audit tool. The common theme of my blogs is, “Do you understand fraud risk?” I have raised a number of issues that I hope were helpful within your career as an auditor, investigator, risk manager, or senior leader. In this blog, we’re diving into what having a deeper understanding looks like.
We looked at how to create fraud risk statements using the payroll function in the last blog. In this blog, we’ll look at how to apply the fraud risk statement in a fraud audit program.
But first, the Trivia answers:
Was Christmas ever illegal?
Last month’s trivia questions and answers...
What is the full name of the person who first perpetrated the Ponzi scheme?
Despite the notoriety of Charles Ponzi, the scheme that carries his name, it was first perpetrated by Sarah Howe in Boston in 1879.
Before we start this month’s blog, last month’s fraud trivia questions and answers.
What was the original name of the ACFE? NACFE
What was the original name of the ACFE monthly newsletter? White Paper
Is there a designation, Life Time CFE? Yes, it was issued once in the early years
What is your favorite Fraud Movie? This is always a tough question, but here is a few: Catch Me if You Can; The Wolf of Wall Street; Wizard of Lies, and of course, The Accountant.
First, trivia questions and answers from last month’s blog:
What was the original name for the FBI?
Answer: B.O.I. Bureau of Investigation
What professions did J. Edgar Hoover like to hire for FBI agents?
Answer: Lawyers, reporters, and accountants
Ghost employee schemes are a common fraud scheme during which there are people on the payroll who don’t work for the company in question but do collect a salary or remuneration.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can use fraud data analytics when creating an executing an audit program for ghost employees:
The fraud triangle, authored by Dr. Cressey, has been adopted by the auditing profession as a tool to help detect and deter occupational fraud.
The model has many applications in the fraud audit. The primary purpose is in the planning stage to help identify where and why your organization would be vulnerable to someone committing a fraud risk scenario.
Here’s a closer look at the fraud triangle and how you can implement this model.
How you determine which concepts to evaluate to “consider fraud” and how to integrate fraud into your audit program is a challenge that is easily solved if you approach it with the scope and objectives of your audit clearly defined.
