Detecting and Responding to Accounts Payable Fraud

In this 90-minute session, participants will learn how to identify different varieties of AP-related fraud schemes damaging organizations of all kinds, including small businesses and non-profits. You will learn to determine how shrewd fraudsters abuse the AP process to embezzle funds for years before being detected and how to shorten the time before discovery.

This training will enable you to quickly recognize the red flags of AP fraud in your operations and financial records and will assist in providing cost-effective anti-fraud controls to protect against the growing army of fraudsters both inside and outside your organizations.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, businesses suffer an average of $155,000 every time an insider commits fraud. More disturbing: Billing schemes are by far the most common fraud schemes threatening organizations, making up nearly one-third of the total. Adding to the problem, check fraud is rising at a rate of 25% per year and criminals are coming up with new high-tech ways of hijacking corporate ACH (Automated Clearing House) accounts.

INTRODUCTION

• Statistical overview of the fraud problem
• Who commits fraud?
• Why employees commit fraud (The Fraud Triangle)?
• Lessons from fraudsters

COMMON TYPES OF AP FRAUD TODAY

• Vendor/billing fraud schemes
• Check fraud and tampering
• ACH fraud
• Fraudulent AP financial reporting
• Kickbacks/bribery
• Conflicts of interest
• P-Card fraud

RED FLAGS OF AP FRAUD

• Conducting a fraud risk assessment and recognizing the red flags of internal fraud
• The fraud risk mitigation cycle
• Implementing an organization-wide system for detecting, preventing and investigating fraud

FRAUD DETECTION

• How frauds are most often detected?`
• Additional general detection methods
• Data mining/analytics for fraud detection
• Examples of fraud audit techniques at work

ANTI-FRAUD CONTROLS FOR AP

• Internal controls and other fraud prevention measures
• Who should manage anti fraud activities for AP?
• Internal controls: do's and don'ts
• General controls: segregation of duties, delegation of authority, background investigation
• Specific AP operations-level controls

This 90-minute webinar will guide you through the critical steps in ensuring strong controls for the Accounts Payable (AP) function and provide practical 'how to' guidance for minimizing your organization's exposure to AP fraudsters.

• Internal and External Audit Professionals
• Accounting and Audit Practitioners
• AP Managers
• Senior Financial Management seeking to reduce their vulnerability to Costly Frauds
• Procurement and Payables Specialists
• Compliance and Ethics Managers
• CFO's/Senior Financial Managers
• Security Personnel

Peter Goldmann is president of FraudAware LLC, the publisher of White-Collar Crime Fighter, a widely read monthly newsletter for internal auditors, controllers, corporate counsel, financial operations managers and fraud investigators. The newsletter is in its 15th year of publication under Peter's leadership. Peter is the author of “Fraud in the Markets: Why it Happens and How to Fight It”, published by John Wiley & Sons, as well as four other anti-fraud books. Peter also developed FraudAware, the leading employee fraud awareness training program. A user-friendly learning tool, FraudAware uses workshop, Webinar and E-Learning formats to educate employees and managers at all levels in how to detect, prevent and report incidents of fraud or suspicious conduct. In addition, Peter has conducted numerous on-site fraud detection and prevention workshops for internal auditors, attorneys, HR executives and compliance officers at Fortune 500 companies and large not-for profit organizations. He has also been a guest lecturer for college accounting and auditing courses. Peter has 30 years of experience as a business journalist and trainer, having launched, edited and published numerous business trade periodicals covering small business, international trade, management strategy, banking and personal finance. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner. Peter holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a Master's from the London School of Economics (CFE).