Internal auditors, compliance officers, and other “lines of defense” professionals are in unique positions to spot fraud and wrongdoing at the companies where they work. In most cases it is enough to report the problems to senior management or to the board of directors in situations where senior executives may Read More
Here are five steps to conducting an expert fraud investigation, and five common investigation mistakes to avoid. When you are assigned by senior management, the audit committee, or your superior to head a team of professionals to conduct a fraud investigation, what do you do? You have two options: embrace Read More
Two-thirds of Canadian banks examined by regulators had “significant levels” of noncompliance with anti-money laundering rules, according to report to lawmakers reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimated in 2011 that between $3.8 billion to $11.5 billion is laundered in the country annually. Critics of Read More
While the dog days of summer have typically been a fairly quiet time for internal audit news, there is one place where internal audit is creating some heat these months—on university campuses. There have been a string of university officials and professors who have been implicated of wrongdoing after an Read More
The final version of the fiscal 2019 Massachusetts state budget, released this week, will include reforms to the state police that were proposed by the Massachusetts House. The final bill includes a new state police internal audit unit and the creation of a new commission to review state police hiring Read More
A federal judge on Monday said PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP must pay $625.3 million in damages to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for failing to uncover fraud that led to one of the largest bank failures of the global financial crisis. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein found it more likely than not Read More
“Where there’s money, there’s money to steal,” writes Tiffany Couch in a recent article in Accounting Today. The CEO of forensic accounting firm Acuity Forensics says that even after 15 years as a forensic accountant, it never ceases to amaze her that fraudsters think they can get away with their Read More
An angry Tesla employee tried to damage the company by inserting bad code into the electric car company’s manufacturing system and illegally exporting data to third parties. The case serves as a reminder to the damage that rogue employees can do and the need for internal controls to prevent such Read More
The additional professional judgment required by the new revenue recognition standard could expose companies to an increased level of fraud, given the inherent opportunity for bias created by a principles-based framework. The new standard moves companies away from a rules-based framework to a more principles-based approach as it relates to Read More
An internal audit has found some major accounting woes in the City of Brotherly Love. An audit report, released Tuesday by City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, cites $924 million in accounting errors last year alone. The city is also missing $33 million from its main bank account, a discrepancy that came Read More
