Posts Tagged ‘fraud’
Lessons in Fraud From Atlanta Hawks
Today, another compliance lesson from the world of sports! Federal prosecutors have indicted the now-former head of finance of the Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team, on charges that he embezzled millions from the team over at least eight years to buy sports cars, concert tickets, luxury vacations, and all the usual goodies we see in…
Read MoreThe ‘Dual Crisis’ of AI-Driven Fraud Today
More glum news from the anti-fraud world: A new report says financial firms are getting hammered by rising levels of AI-enhanced fraud — but at the same time, consumers are embracing online privacy technologies that make anti-fraud efforts more difficult because firms can’t easily verify an online user’s identity. So says Fingerprint, which on Tuesday…
Read MoreSome Reminders on Fraud Risk
Last week a former employee of Takeda Pharmaceuticals was sentenced to prison for a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme against the company. The case is a good reminder that companies will always need strong internal accounting controls no matter what regulatory changes might happen in Washington, so let’s take a look. The ex-employee at the center…
Read MoreA Fresh Example of Poor Control Environment
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Massachusetts company with allowing a poor control environment and weak segregation of duties, which in turn allowed one of the company’s corporate finance directors to inflate his division’s financial performance for years. The company in question is Circor International, a maker of industrial valve systems for the…
Read MoreJustice Department Eyes AI Risks
Last week the Justice Department announced that it will cast a more critical eye at abuses of artificial intelligence. Today let’s unpack what that news means for compliance officers in practice, and how you might need to adjust your compliance program to accommodate this brave new AI world. The pledge about increased scrutiny of AI…
Read MoreQuestions on Data Analytics and Fraud
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has just released a new benchmarking report on anti-fraud technology, with some interesting findings about fraud detection that make me wonder whether compliance folks are managing internal controls as efficiently as we might. ACFE published its 2024 Anti-Fraud Technology Benchmarking Report on Tuesday, based on a survey of nearly…
Read MoreFresh Thoughts on AI and Compliance
A few weeks ago I had the privilege of moderating (yet another) webinar on artificial intelligence and its implications for corporate compliance functions. The discussion was excellent, and as usual I took lots of notes. For all you AI aficionados out there who missed it, I’ve recapped some of the best insights below. First, one…
Read MoreUpdated Fraud Risk Guidance Available
Auditors and other anti-fraud professionals have fresh guidance this week on how to manage fraud risk, with an emphasis on data analytics, internal reporting hotlines, and discussion of how effective fraud risk management can deter fraudsters from trying their schemes in the first place. Said guidance comes from COSO and the Association of Certified Fraud…
Read MorePCAOB Lists 2023 Inspection Priorities
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released its list of priorities for audit firm inspections in 2023, in case any internal audit and financial compliance teams want to understand where your auditor is feeling the pressure and how that pressure might fall through onto you. The PCAOB releases such a list every spring after…
Read More‘Office Space,’ Fraud, and Controls
They say that life sometimes imitates art. Now we have an example of that in the world of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, courtesy of that knucklehead in Seattle charged the other week with embezzling company money just like those characters in the film “Office Space.” You may have already seen the headlines. A former IT employee at…
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