Live coverage from the ACFE Global Fraud Conference, including anti-fraud articles, session highlights, video clips and photo gallery.
Ethics and compliance programs are becoming increasingly significant in the business world as more consumers and corporations turn their attentions to the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) business initiatives. As a result, the business environment needs to think about ethics and compliance in newer ways.
Read More“The bank robber expects to be arrested, it's an occupational hazard. The bank teller who embezzled does not; they think they are smarter than everyone else.” Wendy Evans, CFE, ACFE Regent and senior manager of ethics core programs and services at Lockheed Martin opened her session at the 34th ACFE Global Fraud Conference explaining that she originally had hesitancy when she first began investigating fraud, thinking it would just consist of boring cases, but as evidenced by her quote, she quickly realized that white-collar crime was vastly different from her experience with typical police work. In her session “Ethics and the Investigative Process, From Intake to Outcome,” Wendy walked attendees through internal ethics investigations, best practices when conducting them and common mistakes made.
Read MoreAs a keynote speaker at the 2021 ACFE Fraud Conference Canada, Garth Sheriff, CPA ,CA, CIA, and founder of Sheriff Consulting, turned the audience’s attention to the topic of psychological safety. Acknowledging that many audience members may not have heard that term before, Sheriff chose to define it through a number of examples that painted clear images of how psychological safety impacts a workplace.
Read MoreHundreds of anti-fraud professionals will hear from director and CEO of FINTRAC Sarah Paquet, tech journalist Takara Small, Gold AE whistleblower Andre Gauthier and more at the virtual 2021 ACFE Fraud Conference Canada, November 7-10.
One of the speakers, Garth Sheriff, CPA, CA, CIA, will discuss the pivotal role psychological safety plays in preventing fraud in organizations. Sheriff, the founder of Sheriff Consulting, told the ACFE that employees need to have psychological safety in order to maintain an ethical culture. “Psychological safety is a shared belief that a team and organization are safe for interpersonal risk-taking,” Sheriff said. “There are numerous examples … in which pervasive low psychological safety within an organization can cause an individual's ethical decision-making system, or that provided by their profession, to retreat in fear.”
Read MoreDima Ghawi began her session at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference with a question for virtual attendees: “Why do you believe talking about DEI is important?” While she waited for responses to filter through the chat, she shared a story about her friend whose personal and professional life suffered when he felt like he had to hide part of his identity. Afraid to inform his workplace of his sexual orientation because he felt the community would no longer accept him, Ghawi’s friend started drinking heavily as a coping mechanism, which affected the way he performed at work. To summarize her story, Ghawi stated, “It affects all of us when we are being discriminated…emotionally, physically and at a genetic level.” Therein lies the answer to her opening question.
Read MoreFraud examiners understand that investing in fraud prevention and deterrence, along with resources to help investigate fraud, is pivotal for organizations of any size. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, fraudsters pounced on new opportunities created by the changing economic and working environment. However, along with an increase in fraud, many anti-fraud professionals saw their organizations cutting back on budget during this time due to the shifting economy. If convincing their C-suite to invest in anti-fraud resources was difficult before, the pandemic likely made that task even more challenging.
So what trends and areas of concern are executive-level anti-fraud professionals seeing today? In the panel discussion, “The C-Suite's View on Fraud,” at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, the participants offered a glimpse into their day-to-day lives as they balanced larger organizational business objectives during a time of international crisis while keeping an eye to the future for preventing fraud.
Read MoreWhen ACFE Regent Kenneth Dieffenbach, CFE, took to the virtual stage at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, he reminded his audience of their pivotal role. “Fraud examination really does matter, no matter how tedious or lengthy investigations can be,” he said. He stressed the importance especially for fraud examiners working in the public sector. “No matter where you live, travel, or work, the government has to have the proper guardrails to fight and deter corruption. Some governments have a higher perception of corruption than others, but they’re all at risk for public and private corruption.”
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