Check any online or print news source almost any day; you’ll probably find articles reporting on fraud investigations involving hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars being pilfered from small and large businesses, governmental entities and charity groups. Far too often, the blame falls to the feet of a trusted employee with years of… Read more »
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Posts Categorized: Fraud Deterrence
Protecting Charities and Non-Profits from Fraud
Given the nature of their organizations and missions, people would think that houses of worship, charities and other non-profit organizations would be free of financial fraud issues. However, most people – says a noted Philadelphia forensic accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner – would be wrong. According to David Anderson, principal of David Anderson & Associates,… Read more »
Five Frequently Made Mistakes in Valuing a Business – Part One of Two
While most business valuations properly follow applicable professional standards, some have fallen short when the financial professional makes one or more significant mistakes. Here, from a noted Philadelphia forensic accountant and Certified Valuation Analyst, are two of the five most frequently made business valuations miscues. The three other top mistakes will be detailed in our… Read more »
Fighting Vendor Billing Fraud
Businesses and other organizations can fall victim to vendor billing fraud perpetrated by outside parties just as easily as they can be by unscrupulous employees or managers, explains a noted Philadelphia forensic accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. An example of this, according to David Anderson, principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting… Read more »
Why Bank Reconciliations Are Critical in Protecting Against Fraud
It is important for a business to closely monitor and control its bank reconciliations and other account-related activities to help prevent fraud, according to a noted Philadelphia forensic accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. David Anderson, principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that provides a full range of fraud investigation and… Read more »
Tricks of the Trade – Looking at the Numbers
As part of the normal procedure of analyzing financial and accounting information, a forensic accountant will look closely at the numbers themselves. Such tight scrutiny can help unearth potential fraud or other abuse of financial information, according to David Anderson, a Philadelphia forensic accountant and principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting… Read more »
Tricks of the Trade – Dates and Time
In conducting investigations, a forensic accountant often will analyze dates and time to determine if fraud or minority shareholder oppression may be present. Date and time analysis can be used for a variety of purposes, explained David Anderson, a Philadelphia forensic accountant and principal of David Anderson & Associates, a Philadelphia forensic accounting firm that… Read more »
Tricks of the Trade – How A Forensic Accountant Can Use Names, Addresses and Phone Numbers
A forensic accountant can use names, addresses and phone numbers when investigating potential minority shareholder suppression cases and when conducting a fraud investigation. In minority shareholder suppression cases, a forensic accountant will look for employees, subcontractors and vendors having the same last name as that of the majority shareholders, explained David Anderson, a Philadelphia forensic… Read more »
Tricks of the Trade: Benford’s Law Can Serve as Red Flag in Fraud Investigations
The business of forensic accounting is — most of the time — a very precise, highly detailed process. It might surprise you then to learn that one of the tricks of the trade forensic accountants use in fraud investigation stems from the very inexact science of probabilities, specifically, Benford’s Law. “Frank Benford was a physicist… Read more »
The Role of the Forensic Accountant in Fraudulent Conveyance Litigation
Faced with losses that come as a result of foreclosures, divorces and other legal proceedings, less-than-scrupulous business owners sometimes resort to the fraudulent conveyance or transfer of property or other assets to lessen or eliminate their losses essentially by hiding valuable assets. When that happens, it is the role of the forensic accountant to uncover… Read more »
Fraud Investigations Identify Lesser Known Fraud Schemes
Employers generally are savvy about the more common types of fraud that plague businesses and may have enacted fraud controls and fraud deterrence programs to prevent them. But fraud investigations have shown that equally savvy fraudsters know their employers often overlook lesser-known fraud schemes — an oversight that leaves them free to pursue fraudulent activity…. Read more »
Fraud Deterrence Measures Can Lessen Petty Cash Fraud
Petty cash fraud may seem, well, petty. After all, your company keeps only a few dollars in the petty cash fund at any given time and it’s always secured in the company safe or otherwise locked up. It’s hardly worth the effort of enacting fraud deterrence measures to protect petty cash, right? You might be… Read more »
Fraud Investigations Identify Financial Statement Fraud As Costliest
The most expensive frauds in the business world don’t involve the theft of cash or other assets, but rather the falsification of financial statements. Repeated fraud investigations have found that these financial statement frauds usually are perpetrated by or at the direction of senior management. “This is fraud at the very highest levels of a… Read more »
