Blog

Category: Risk Management

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October 28, 2020
Nonprofits: Internal Audits Still Matter

On its most basic level, the internal audit function provides assurance of compliance with a nonprofit’s internal controls and their effectiveness in mitigating financial and operational risk. Potential risks include fraud, insufficient funds to support programming and rep...

October 26, 2020
No Season is the Right Season for Ghost Employees and Other Payroll Scams

Ghost stories can be good fun, particularly this time of year. Ghost employees, on the other hand, are trouble for employers. They may be just as fictional as the paranormal activities in your favorite scary book or movie, but if you have ghost employees on your payroll, you...

September 9, 2020
Getting the Goods on Inventory Theft

Maybe the numbers didn’t add up during your company’s recent inventory count. You know that most inventory discrepancies are the result of honest mistakes, such as when employees return items to the wrong shelves or customer returns are flubbed. It’s even possible that...

August 31, 2020
Some Online Sellers Burnish Their Reputations at the Expense of Yours

Reports started trickling into state agricultural agencies in July: Consumers were worried about strange seed packets they had received in the mail. The unsolicited goods weren’t labeled and appeared to be sent from China. In a year already fraught with anxiety and paranoi...

August 18, 2020
Unmasking Fraud During This Economic Downturn

Fraud tends to flourish during periods of prosperity. The reason is simple: When companies experience fast-growing revenues and rising net profits, they may lack a strong incentive to divert resources to preventing and detecting fraud. Fraud schemes can go undetected for mon...

August 10, 2020
Journal Entries May Signal Financial Statement Fraud

With a median loss of $954,000, financial statement fraud is the costliest type of white-collar crime, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Fortunately, auditors and forensic accountants may be able to detect inflated income and other financial manipula...

June 22, 2020
Fraud in the Family Business

Family businesses make up the vast majority of companies in the United States and produce 62% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the Conway Center for Family Business. Generally defined as companies that are majority owned by a single family with two or ...

June 8, 2020
Is There a Fraud Perpetrator Behind Those Behavioral Issues?

Occupational fraud red flags are easy to recognize if you are observant of employee behavior. The recently released 2020 Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s (ACFE’s) occupational fraud study, Report to the Nations, reveals that the most common behavioral red flag e...

June 4, 2020
The Latest News on Nonprofit Fraud is Here

The latest news on nonprofit fraud is here. Every two years, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) publishes what has become the definitive guide for preventing and detecting workplace fraud. The recently released Report to the Nations: 2020 Global Study on Occ...

May 4, 2020
Give Employees a Voice to Report Fraud

Before the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck, employees who suspected occupational fraud in their organizations had multiple options for notifying their employers. For example, they could use interoffice mail to send information anonymously or meet with HR personn...

April 27, 2020
5 Ways to Protect Remote Workers — And Your Business — From Cyberattacks

Many businesses were unprepared when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic required them to close their physical offices and shift to remote operations. Your company, for example, may have had to scramble to set up a virtual private network (VPN) or move files to the clo...

March 31, 2020
How COVID-19 Poses New Fraud Threats to Vulnerable Businesses

Scam artists know how anxious business owners are so now there are COVID fraud threats to vulnerable businesses. They know that as you struggle to meet customer demands, pay employees and stay solvent, you’re more likely to drop your guard and fall for a fraud scheme. The ...