Fraud – why it happens and how to prevent it
A one-day workshop
Fraud should not happen, but it does. It can happen at the highest to lowest levels in an organisation. Recent surveys show that incidents of fraud ae not decreasing. Fraud costs organisations money and, perhaps even more importantly, reputational damage.
The losers are not just the shareholders, suppliers, customers, etc, but society as a whole.
This programme shows why frauds happen, how organisations put themselves at risk and what they can do to prevent it.
Learning objectives
This programme will help directors and others understand:
- The motives for committing fraud
- Directors’ responsibilities for identifying and reporting fraud
- What types of frauds there are
- How frauds are perpetrated
- How they can be prevented
- How regulators deal with fraud
Above all, the objective of this programme is to make your organisation as secure as possible from the threat of fraud.
Who should attend?
Auditors are expected to identify material frauds – but so are directors and senior executives. This programme is ideal for directors, senior management teams, senior finance personnel and internal auditors.
Format
- A thoroughly practical one-day workshop involving exercises, formal input and facilitated discussion.
- The workshop material has been developed to meet the needs of many successful companies by supporting their management improvement programmes.
- The programme can be tailored to meet the needs of individual organisations and sectors – private sector, public sector, voluntary organisations and charities.
- Highly focused, with plenty of discussion around issues of specific concern to you and your organisation
- Can be run as an abbreviated half-day session if preferred, focused on key topics
Special features
This workshop can be tailored to meet your specific requirements. You can choose to follow the agenda set out below or you can talk it through with the trainer and set a new one. The choice is yours.
Meet the trainer
Ralph is a very popular and highly experienced trainer in this subject, running sessions in the UK and internationally for organisations on an in-house basis and also open programmes for accountants and auditors in practice.
Agenda
This is an indicative agenda – a starting point for a conversation with you. Ralph would be happy to tailor it to your precise requirements.
1 Motives for committing fraud – drivers of fraud
Session objective: to understand why people might commit fraud
- Drivers of fraudulent behaviour
- Ambition
- Greed
- Theft
- Conceit?
- And more!
2 Accounting mechanisms that allow fraud
Session objective: to review the elements of the accounting, internal control and management processes that allow creative accounting
- Income or liability?
- Asset or expense?
- Coding errors and misclassification
- Netting-off and grossing-up
- Off-balance sheet items
3 Structures that allow fraud
Session objective: to consider company and trading structures that allow frauds to be perpetrated
- Group structures
- Trading structures
- Tax havens
- Importing and exporting
4 Interpretations and other non-compliance that allow fraud
Session objective: to look at how creative interpretations of law and accounting practice may permit fraud
- The place of accounting standards
- Accounting policies
- Trading methods
- The place of auditing standards
5 Money laundering
Session objective: to review what constitutes money laundering
- Types of money laundering
- Identifying laundering
- Preventing laundering
6 Preventing fraud – proper management structures
Session objective: to review the place of proper corporate governance
- Corporate governance
- Company management structure
- Audit committees
- The place of internal audit
7 Preventing fraud – proper accounting
Session objective: to review best accounting and auditing practice
- Accounting standards
- Internal accounting policies
- Adequacy of internal controls
- Internal audit
8 Preventing fraud – regulation
Session objective: to look at how regulators aim to prevent fraud
- The regulatory environment
- Financial services regulation
9 Conclusion
- Session review
- Open forum and action planning
- Close
For a no-obligation discussion about running this programme for your organisation on an in-house basis, just give us a call on 01582 463465.