Principles of Fraud Examination

7:30-8:00 a.m.  

Registration -
Continental Breakfast  

8:00-9:20 a.m. 

Investigation – Planning the Investigation
The steps to a successful fraud investigation, including the skills to complete the process and complete the investigation, are important to the end result: prosecution and restitution. This session will cover the discovery process (document collection and examination), the confirmation process and the admission-seeking interview of the suspect.  

Investigation — Data and Intellectual Property 

In the information age, data and intellectual property play a vital role in fraud examinations. As seen in countless news headlines, organizations’ data is vulnerable to attack; it can be stolen by thieves or lost as a result of poor security procedures. Additionally, since virtually all information is stored in electronic format, understanding how to preserve and retrieve this information is essential to the fraud examiner. This session will provide you an overview of how to protect electronic information from data thieves, as well as how to secure and gather digital evidence to make your case.

Fraud Prevention and Deterrence – Causes of Fraud 

A key element in fraud is the understanding of human behavior – why some people turn to crime and fraud while others don't. During this session, you will study several types of behavioral, psychological and social theories of why fraud occurs.

Investigation – Admission-Seeking Interviews
Now, you are ready to complete your investigation. You have all your evidence and are ready to interview the primary suspect and obtain an admission of guilt during the interview. Sound simple? Once again, preparation, legal elements and physical evidence all are key to this interview's success or failure.

9:20-9:35 a.m. 

Break  

Break  

Break  

Break  

9:35-10:55 a.m. 

Financial Transactions – Asset Misappropriation Schemes 

To resolve allegations of fraud, you must understand what schemes are used to defraud organizations. This session shows you how to recognize common asset misappropriation schemes, such as skimming, fraudulent expense reimbursements, accounts receivable manipulation and inventory theft.

Financial Transactions – Contract and Procurement Fraud  

The purchasing and procurement functions in most organizations represent an area at high risk for fraud. This session will explore how vendors can collude with each other and with company employees to defraud a purchasing organization. Overbilling schemes and common corruption schemes, including kickbacks and conflicts of interest, will also be discussed.

Fraud Prevention — Prevention of Fraud  

Do you know the difference between prevention and deterrence? What actually stops fraud from occurring? Understand some of the psychological and sociological elements in both prevention and deterrence. 

Investigation – Signed Statements/Report Writing
At the conclusion of your investigation, a detailed report is almost always required. A fraud examination report varies considerably from the traditional audit report and knowing the difference is critical. You must assume your report will be seen by insiders and outsiders, and you may even be asked to testify about it in court. In this final session, you will learn what to write as well as what to never to put on paper. Developing these communication skills is one of the most important things a fraud examiner can do.

10:55-11:10 a.m. 

Break  

Break  

Break  

Break  

11:10 a.m.-
12:30 p.m. 

Legal Elements – Legal Elements of Fraud 

This session will explore the basic legal concepts of fraud examination. We will examine the legal definition of fraud, as well as several criminal and civil statutes that may affect your work.

Legal Elements – Legal Issues  

A fraud examiner must know the legal ramifications of conducting an investigation. This session will include an overview of the rights and duties of an employer and an employee, as well as civil litigation that may arise from improper actions. Privacy issues will also be reviewed.

Financial Transactions—Fraud Risk Assessment
An important part of fraud prevention is proactively looking for vulnerabilities within an organization. This session will provide you with ideas and tools to conduct a basic fraud risk assessment for your clients or employers.

Legal Elements – Testifying
All fraud examinations must begin with the assumption that your case will go to trial. Learn the principles associated with direct and cross examination, as well as the "Ten Commandments" of testifying.

12:30-1:30 p.m. 

Group Lunch  

Lunch on Your Own 

Group Lunch  

1:30-2:50 p.m. 

Financial Transactions – Financial Statement Fraud 

According to the ACFE’s 2016 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, financial statement fraud causes the largest losses of all types of occupational fraud, with a median loss of $975,000 per case.This session will discuss the schemes and red flags associated with financial statement fraud, as well as the appropriate analytical tools and techniques to detect it.  

Financial Transactions—Analyzing and Managing Financial Info 

New tools and techniques for analyzing data, especially on a large scale, are being developed all the time. In this session, get an overview of some software analytical tools to detect illicit transactions. In addition, software to help prepare and organize cases will be reviewed.  

Investigation— Investigating on the Internet
With the proliferation of information, documents and records now available on the Web, fraud examiners must be aware of the best sources and techniques used to find online clues. This session will explore numerous Internet resources available to the fraud examiner.

2:50-3:05 p.m. 

Break  

Break  

Break  

3:05-4:25 p.m. 

Legal Elements – Rules of Evidence
Regardless of what information you discover, you must be familiar with the rules of evidence to know if your findings will be admitted in court. You will examine several evidentiary principles and identify how each relates to fraud examination.

Investigation— Interviewing Prospective Witnesses  

You cannot prepare enough for your interviews. Here you will see how the various environmental and psychological factors can enter into the simplest of interviews and also learn that developing the right questions in the right sequence can produce very beneficial results. 

Investigation – Evaluating Deception 

The psychology of deception is very complex and often manifests itself through verbal and non-verbal cues. Learn why observation is critical during the entire investigation but more so during the interviewing process.