Fraud - In-House Training - Business Risk Management Ltd

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Fraud

FRAUD -THE INVISIBLE ENEMY
How to prevent, detect and investigate fraud

Would you know if fraud was occurring in your organisation?
Do you know what the major fraud risks are in your business?
Does your organisation have a fraud prevention strategy?
Do you have a formal programme to tackle the risk posed by fraud?
Do you have the use of any automated fraud detection techniques?
If fraud is suspected do you have a clearly defined approach for managing the investigation?

If you have answered "no" to any of the above questions you are not alone.

Recent surveys have revealed that many organisations do not have a formalised approach to fraud prevention, detection or investigation. Furthermore most survey respondents stated that their organisations were not taking the risk of fraud seriously enough. Staff invariably did not receive any fraud awareness training.

Many organisations rely on internal controls to prevent and detect fraud. This is unwise. The fraudster invariably knows your controls well and how to bypass them.
Furthermore, in today's competitive environment internal controls have often been badly mauled as a result of "down-sizing", removal of management layers and employee empowerment
Complacency, poorly applied procedures and the frenetic pace of change are the fraudster's main allies
Add to this the ever-increasing reliance on technology, and it is no great surprise that fraud is escalating both in frequency and magnitude - in all industry sectors and all economies.
The most worrying factor however is that fraud will be primarily committed by your own staff, and by those you probably trust the most
One recent survey revealed that 84% of the worst frauds were committed by employees, nearly half of whom were managers with more than 5 years service.

This highly interactive 2-day course will enable participants to

develop a best practice fraud prevention programme, using the latest techniques,
understand and apply techniques to enhance fraud detection.
develop a successful fraud investigation strategy and implement a clearly defined approach

Course Outline

Day 1 - Understanding the Risks and Evaluating the Controls

Background

Fraud explained: definitions and nuances
Who commits fraud?
Trends and statistics regarding detected fraud
Why fraud is probably being perpetrated now in your organisation.
20 fraud case histories and the lessons to learn

Evaluating the fraud risks

Building a picture of the major fraud risks in your organisation.
The top 20 fraud indicators
How to spot the danger signals

Creating a fraud control culture

Why traditional internal controls are unlikely to prevent fraud.
Putting yourself in the mind of the fraudster
Examination of typical controls in place to mitigate the risks
Outline of a successful fraud prevention programme.
Establishing and implementing effective anti-fraud policies
Development of a fraud awareness training programme
Communicating standards of expected behaviour /ethics
The need for strong and consistent action when fraud is suspected or discovered.
The relationship between fraud, risk and control
The roles, responsibilities and liabilities of auditors, management, specialists and others

Aiming for a cost-effective balance between prevention and detection

Use of management check-lists
Company policy on consequences of committing fraud
Facilitation of whistle blowing
Pros and cons of external hot-lines
Preparing and implementing fraud contingency plans
How to ensure fraud investigation is always given top priority
Use of successful fraud investigation as a moral deterrent
Managing the external coverage of proven fraud

Day 2 - Fraud detection and investigation

Fraud detection

Fraud profiling - how to target the right systems
Fraud Risk prioritisation
How to get the information you need
The use of data mining
The use of Internal and external databases
Benfords Law and its importance in fraud detection
Automated fraud detection
How to put the techniques into use in your organisation.
Designing proactive IA programmes
Auditors fraud toolkit
How to target fraud sensitivity by completing specific fraud reviews

What to do when you suspect fraud

Typical fraud scenario
How to decide who needs to be told
Determining the objectives of the investigation
Who should be involved - what skills do you need?
How to respond to anonymous letters
Identifying misleading and malicious allegations
How to deal with tips obtained from hotlines etc
How to decide if you need outside help (forensic accountants etc)

Managing the investigation

The need for thorough planning
How to keep the investigation low-profile
Understanding the legal issues
Research - what information can lawfully be obtained
Forensic evidence and how to obtain it
Collating information and maintaining the chain of evidence
Impact of new legislation - Human Rights Act etc
Knowing when to suspend or dismiss employees

Confronting suspects

Setting the scene - choice of venue etc
Planning the interview - do's and don'ts
How to keep in control
The use of open questions
How to recognise when someone is lying
Interpreting body language

The interview (using role play)

You will have the opportunity to play the role of both suspect and interviewer

Communicating the results

When and how to inform top management
When to inform regulators / the police / etc
Managing external coverage
Dealing with the media / shareholders
The use of successful fraud investigation as a moral deterrent
Rebuilding damaged customer / supplier relationships