Guidelines for Performing Fraud Risk Assessment and Guidance on How to Conduct an Internal Fraud Investigation

Why Should You Attend:

With an increased awareness of fraud and the ongoing cost to organizations, an entity wide fraud risk assessment is imperative to all organizations. Performing a fraud risk assessment is doable, and can provide internal audit and its organization peace of mind for having gone through the process. Once it is completed, it only requires an annual review for additions of possible new fraud schemes and results from internal audit anti-fraud projects conducted during the year.

Internal fraud investigations can cause a lot of stress for an auditor, but simply following a set of guidelines can help to assure that the proper sequence of events occurs during the investigation process. It can sometimes determine the success or failure of an internal investigation.

This webinar will discuss the guidelines for performing a fraud risk assessment. It will explain the various steps for conducting an internal investigation.

Areas Covered in the Webinar:

• Key components of a fraud risk assessment and management program
• The template for a fraud risk assessment and examples of typical fraud schemes
• How the template ties with Sarbanes Oxley Controls
• Brainstorming your industry and the unique types of frauds that can occur
• Confidential investigation guidelines
• The proper steps to conduct an internal investigation
• Commonly asked questions of a respondent

Who Will Benefit:

• Internal Audit Personnel involved in fraud related activities
• Internal Audit Management interested in performing a fraud risk assessment
• Internal Investigators
• Risk/Compliance Officer
• CEOs and Senior Management Officials of small to mid-size firm
• Staff with roles and responsibilities in compliance departments
• Staff with roles and responsibilities in risk assessment departments

Instructor Profile:

Marna Steuart, has been in the audit industry for over twenty years. Ms. Steuart began her career with a Big Four firm as an external auditor, then as an internal auditor in several different capacities within several different industries. Ms. Steuart obtained her Certified Fraud Examiner license in 2007 and was the main fraud investigator for five years at a large utility company. She was responsible for performing and updating the fraud risk assessment on an annual basis and conducting over fifty internal fraud investigations during her time at this organization.

She has involved in driving the shareholder value in energy, consulting, manufacturing, mining, telecommunications, high technology, information services companies and she has Combined cross-functional expertise in Internal Audit Risk Assessment, Operational Audit, Contract Auditing, Policy – Best Practices, Fraud Investigations, Regulatory Audit and Construction Audit.

Topic Background:

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) “Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse” published in 2012, it predicted that 5% of an organization’s revenue is lost to fraud. Performing a fraud risk assessment can seem like a daunting task for an organization. In reality, it can be done using a template and brainstorming with internal auditors, certified fraud examiners and business unit leaders throughout your organization. It doesn’t require having a CFE but it does help to have some exposure to fraud auditing and a mind for coming up with schemes that can occur in any control environment. The fraud risk assessment can be built to tie in with current Sarbanes Oxley Controls to help companies assess whether the current control environment can help deter fraud from occurring.

Internal fraud investigations are stressful, no matter what the situation; someone has been accused of something that is against the internal code of conduct. Having a template to follow in order to conduct a proper investigation is an integral part of conducting a complete and accurate investigation. When performed in the sequence that will be provided in class, a complete and accurate investigation can be the result.

Follow us :