Lauded as Anti-fraud Trailblazer

“You might wonder what a guy from the dusty plains of Oklahoma has in common with all of you,” said ACFE Chairman and founder Dr. Joseph T. Wells, CFE, CPA, to the graduating class of York College of The City University of New York after recently being honored with a doctorate degree. “The answer is: more than you think.

“Many of you have encountered challenges along the road in your lives; so did I,” Wells said. “As a child I was among the poorest of the poor. And my family didn’t provide me with a good role model when I was growing up. I came from what was then referred to as a ‘broken home.’ In fact, few people believed that I would ever amount to anything.”

But the old saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” was true for him, he said. His tough life experiences gave him the strength to eventually succeed. “If things have been difficult for you too, that will turn out to be a blessing in disguise.”

During his remarks, Wells thanked President Marcia V. Keizs, the college faculty senators, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, and the CUNY Board of Trustees. “But special thanks are reserved for my friend and colleague, Professor Mary-Jo Kranacher, who nominated me.”

After the ceremony, which was York College’s 40th commencement, Kranacher spoke about Wells’ contributions to the field. “This honorary degree speaks to Dr. Wells’ lifelong dedication to anti-fraud education and how far fraud examination has come as a respected interdisciplinary field in academia,” said Mary-Jo Kranacher, MBA, CFE, CPA, chairperson of York College’s Accounting and Finance Department. Kranacher also is the ACFE Endowed Professor of Fraud Examination, a former member of the ACFE Board of Regents, and editor-in-chief of The CPA Journal, the official publication of the New York State Society of CPAs.

“Few other professions combine the knowledge, skills, and abilities from the variety of disciplines – accounting, business, economics, criminology, psychology, and law – needed for fraud examination,” Kranacher said. “Our global society has a responsibility to all the honest and hard-working people in every country to combat the problem of fraud with everything we have. I’m proud that York College has taken the lead by being the first to recognize Dr. Wells’ efforts and accomplishments in this vitally important area.”

After the ceremony, Dr. Keizs said that “granting the honorary doctorate to Dr. Wells acknowledges his distinguished contribution over a lifetime to anti-fraud education and celebrates as well his commitment to excellence and scholarship in this field.”

ACFE President James D. Ratley, CFE, said the honor bestowed on Wells “is fitting for a man who has made education a cornerstone of his dedication to the anti-fraud profession.”

“Since he founded the ACFE more than 20 years ago, Dr. Wells has lectured to thousands at colleges and universities and supported the future of anti-fraud instruction through the ACFE’s higher education initiatives,” Ratley said. “These initiatives include the establishment of anti-fraud curriculum at institutes of higher learning and the awarding of scholarships to deserving accounting students worldwide.

“Founding the ACFE was part of Dr. Wells’ vision for helping to establish the anti-fraud profession,” Ratley said. “It is through an enduring commitment to this vision—by supporting the highest level of education, research and training—that he secures its future.”

VISITS TO YORK COLLEGE 

Wells visited York College in 2004 and 2006 to instruct accounting students on fraud examination topics and meet with Keizs and members of the accounting and business faculty. During another visit in 2008, the college presented him with its Presidential Medal of Honor.

Kranacher said that York College, as a member of the ACFE’s Anti-Fraud Education Partnership, has benefitted from the educational resources the ACFE has donated to the college such as free anti-fraud videotapes, workbooks, and teaching aids. (The ACFE has provided free anti-fraud materials to more than 370 higher-learning institutions throughout the world.)

“York College has offered multiple sections of the fraud examination course for our accounting and business students since 2004,” Kranacher said. “We have chosen to use Dr. Wells’ ‘Principles of Fraud Examination’ textbook for this course. In the book, he succinctly explains anti-fraud concepts such as the Occupational Fraud and Abuse Classification System – the Fraud Tree. The students also enjoy reading about Dr. Wells’ FBI escapades.”

“There is one more thing that this boy from the Oklahoma plains has in common with York’s graduates,” Wells said in his concluding remarks. “And that is, for most of you, your career could take you in very different directions from what you envision today. I had imagined myself, with an accounting degree, being involved in the financial aspects of business. I never dreamed at the time about being a real-life, gun-toting FBI agent. But I was. And it never occurred to me that I would later be responsible for starting the world’s largest anti-fraud association. But I did.”

Wells said that no single decision in his life was as important as graduating from college. “You’ll also come to understand that this was one of the best commitments of your time and effort that you will ever make,” he said.

PREPARATION OF A FRAUD FIGHTER 

After graduating with honors from the University of Oklahoma, Wells spent two years on the audit staff of the large accounting firm, Coopers and Lybrand, now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

He subsequently was appointed an FBI special agent and investigated thousands of fraud cases, ranging from nickel-and-dime con artists to former Attorney General John Mitchell for his role in the Watergate scandal. In 1982, he left the government to form – with longtime colleague Kathie Green Lawrence, and later James D. Ratley, CFE – Wells & Associates of Austin, Texas, which specialized in fraud detection and deterrence.

In 1985, Wells & Associates and renowned criminologist Donald R. Cressey, Ph.D., began the Institute for Financial Crime Prevention to study white-collar crime prevention and provide education for businesses and government. In 1986, Wells met with W. Steve Albrecht, Ph.D., CFE, CPA, of Brigham Young University to discuss the genesis of what would eventually become the Certified Fraud Examiner credential.

In June of 1988, Wells, Ratley, and Lawrence, with help from several advisors, began the National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. (The “National” was later dropped.) Since then the ACFE, with more than 50,000 members in more than 140 countries, has become the world’s largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education.

Wells has lectured to tens of thousands of business professionals, written 17 books, authored hundreds of articles, and developed scores of anti-fraud educational programs. His writing has won numerous awards, including the best articles of the year for both Internal Auditor Magazine and the Journal of Accountancy. He has been invited to speak at academic and professional conferences around the world. In 1995, he conducted a major international research project, “The Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.” The study, which is updated biannually, continues to be the most widely quoted source on the subject.

Wells is a former adjunct professor of fraud examination in the graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. The American Accounting Association recognized his pioneering work in anti-fraud education by naming him Accounting Education Innovator of the Year in 2002.

He has served on various senior committees of the American Institute of CPAs and was named to the AICPA’s Business and Industry Hall of Fame and the Journal of Accountancy Hall of Fame. Accounting Today magazine included him in their list of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” for nine consecutive years.

“Fraud examination, as we know it,” Kranacher said, “would not exist without Dr. Wells’ foresight and efforts.”

Dick Carozza is editor-in-chief of Fraud Magazine.  

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