The ACFE, in partnership with Grant Thornton, created Managing Fraud Risks in an Evolving ESG Environment to help organizations and anti-fraud professionals understand the internal and external fraud risks presented by this paradigm. The report provides a taxonomy of ESG fraud risks, including fraudulent reporting of ESG metrics and ESG-related frauds by unscrupulous suppliers, and outlines measures organizations can take to protect against these schemes.
Ethics and Compliance
Fraud examiners face ethical dilemmas on a regular basis. Maintaining a code of professional ethics in the anti-fraud profession is not only critical for your practice, but also for self-preservation. Similarly, maintaining an effective compliance program is an absolute necessity to protect your organization from various risks, including fraud, financial losses, litigation and reputational damage.Articles and Other Resources
As Michael D’Alessandro, CFE, CPA, recently reflected on his journey, he realized that he wouldn’t have made it to where he is today if he hadn’t gotten his CFE while working that first job at the Big 4 firm.
Jeff Filliter was working at a bank in Canada when he was flown to Mexico City to investigate the murder of a 41-year-old branch manager who was last seen entering the back seat of a black Jaguar after work a few days earlier. What Filliter, a CFE and investigator of more than 40 years, relayed to attendees at the 2017 ACFE Fraud Conference Canada in Toronto earlier this month was a story straight out of a Netflix series.
The contrition of convicted fraudsters* who speak to attendees at the end of each ACFE Global Fraud Conference ranges widely. Some are desperately sorry and others are still rationalizing. Former bank executive James Scalzo, who went to prison for bank loan frauds totaling $1.4 million, seemed to want to convince attendees of the full repentance of his crimes.
T&E comprises significant amounts of annual spending in many organizations, including airfare, lodging and meals, among other line items. It’s an area that’s quite susceptible to fraud. Some companies don’t want their fraud investigations and/or internal audit teams looking into T&E fraud because they might be afraid of what they could find, or they feel their employees would never steal from them.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently updated its “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs,” the primary guidance for DOJ prosecutors when they assess penalties. These updates provide insights into the factors DOJ is likely to emphasize when it evaluates the effectiveness of your organization’s compliance program — should you come under scrutiny.