certified fraud examiner's fraud prevention check up
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
- 1. The Certified Fraud Examiners Fraud Prevention Checkup - An Introduction Toby J.F. Bishop CFE CPA FCA President & Chief Executive Officer Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
2. Current Fraud Concerns
- Fraudulent financial reporting
- Legal risks for executives
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- Civil liability
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- Criminal (jail time)
- Financial losses for investors
- Reputation damage to companies/brands
- Crisis of confidence
3. An Appropriate Response
- Fraud prevention is 80% of the solution
- Objective evaluation of an entitys fraud prevention processes
- Prompt action to fix gaps/breakdowns
- Annual testing
- Ongoing fraud education and training
4. The Certified Fraud Examiners Fraud Prevention Checkup
- A high-level checkup of an entitys fraud prevention processes
- Form available free atwww.CFEnet.com
- Identifies major gaps
- Provides an overall score
5. Benefits to Entities That Use This Tool
- It provides insights that senior management, the board of directors and audit committee will value highly
- It could save the entity from catastrophic financial and reputational losses
- It could help build confidence in the entity internally and by the public
- Its simple and inexpensive
6. Benefits for CFEs Who Apply This Tool
- It provides insights that senior management, boards of directors and audit committees will value highly
- It can be performed very inexpensively
- It can help you win new clients and deepen existing relationships
- It is being promoted in the media by the ACFE
7. But CFEs Should Manage Their Liability Risks
- Risk of false perception of assurance
- Be careful not to guarantee no fraud
- Anti-fraud controls in existence vs. operating effectively
- Ongoing frauds may be uncovered
- Legal risks to entity evaluated if control gaps are identified but not fixed
8. Who Should Perform the Checkup?
- Ideally a collaboration between a Certified Fraud Examiner and knowledgeable people inside the entity (e.g., internal auditors)
- Helpful to interview senior management
- But also talk to other levels of employees to get a reality check
9. The Certified Fraud Examiners Fraud Prevention Checkup
- The seven elements:
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- Fraud risk oversight (20 pts)
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- Fraud risk ownership (10 pts)
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- Fraud risk assessment (10 pts)
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- Fraud risk tolerance and risk management policy (10 pts)
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- Process level controls/anti-fraud re-engineering (10 pts)
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- Environment level controls (30 pts)
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- Proactive fraud detection (10 pts)
10. Fraud Risk Oversight
- To what extenthas the entity established aprocessfor oversight of fraud risks by theboard of directors orothers charged with governance (e.g., anaudit committee )?
11. Scoring Risk Oversight
- Score: Award from 0 (process not in place) to 20 points (process fully implemented, tested within the past year and working effectively).
- Note: For all questions, awardno more than half the available pointsif the process has not been tested within the past year.
12. Fraud Risk Ownership
- To what extent has the entity created ownership of fraud risks?
- Chief Executive currently owns the risk, but needs to make others responsible too
- A member of senior management,and
- All business unit managers
13. Fraud Risk Assessment
- To what extent has the entity created anongoing processfor identifying thesignificantfraud risks to whichthe entityis exposed?
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- Potentially catastrophic risks
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- Costly risks
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- Tailored to the particular entity
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- Can be part of enterprise risk management
14. Fraud Risk Tolerance and Risk Management Policy
- To what extent has the entity identified and had approved by the board of directors:
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- Itstolerancefor different types of fraud risks?
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- Apolicyonhowit willmanageits fraud risks?
- Align risk toleranceof management with that of board of directors & audit committee
- Business decisions to reduce fraud risks
15. Process Level Controls/ Anti-Fraud Re-engineering
- To what extent has the entity implemented measures to reduce each of the significant fraud risks identified in its risk assessment, through:
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- Anti-fraud process re-engineering (removing the opportunity)?
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- Process level controls to prevent, deter and detect fraud
16. Environment LevelAnti-Fraud Controls
- To what extent has the entity implemented a process to promote ethical decisions, deter wrongdoing and facilitate two-way communication on difficult issues?
- Most difficult area to evaluate
- Difference between existence and operating effectiveness of controls can be crucial
- Employee surveys are highly desirable
17. Key Elements of Environment Level Controls
- Senior member of management responsible
- Values-based code of conduct
- Regular training (including fraud)
- Advice and reporting systems
- Investigation plans
- Monitoring of compliance
18. Key Elements of Environment Level Controls
- Regular measurement of achievement of ethics/compliance and fraud prevention goals
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- Employee attitude surveys, fraud measures
- Incorporate ethics/compliance and fraud prevention goals into performance measures for evaluating/compensating employees
19. Proactive Fraud Detection
- To what extent has the entity established a process to detect, investigate and resolve potentially significant fraud?
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- Proactive fraud detection testing
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- Targeted at significant fraud risks identified in the fraud risk assessment
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- Embedded fraud detection/audit hooks
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- Automated e-mail monitoring (where legal)
20. Interpreting the Entitys Overall Score
- Desirable score is 100 points
- Most entities will fall short initially
- Not currently considered a material weakness in internal controls that is a reportable condition
- But significant gaps should be closed promptly to avoid disaster
21. Recommended Next Steps
- Study the ACFE Fraud Prevention Checkup
- Promote it to your current and target clients
- Perform checkups and identify major gaps in clients fraud prevention processes
- Providing anti-fraud consulting services to help clients fix those gaps
22. Thank You
- Any questions?
- ACFE Fraud Prevention Checkup pdf file available atwww.CFEnet.com .PowerPoint presentation available to members shortly.
- +1 (512) 478-9070