Forensic Files Blog

From a Forensic Accountant’s Perspective: How to Proactively Protect Non-Marital Assets

There’s nothing less romantic than planning for the demise of a marriage before the couple even says, “I do.” However, if you, or someone you love, are entering a marriage with assets you have worked hard to earn on your own or that have been gifted solely to you, it is important to understand how… Read More »

Preventing Corruption Fraud

Fraud Awareness Tip of the Week Corruption fraud schemes account for 33% of all workplace fraud and the average fraud loss due to organizations is $200,000.  Industries such as construction, manufacturing, financial and professional services are more susceptible to this type of fraud and far exceed these statistics. Most corruption fraud schemes occur outside the… Read More »

The Role of a Forensic Accountant in Litigation

When litigation is on the horizon, people are notoriously savvy in hiding assets, misrepresenting income and committing other crimes of financial deception. For the untrained eye, hunting for discrepancies in an endless stream of financial statements requires time you don’t have and rarely uncovers the clues needed to protect your assets in a civil case.… Read More »

10 Red Flags of Payroll Fraud

Payroll Fraud Payroll fraud occurs nearly twice as often in small organizations with less than 100 employees than in large companies.  The average instance of payroll fraud lasts about 30 months. This occurs because many business owners do not take time to review the payroll ledgers.  All to often the person entering in the new hires… Read More »

Working with a Forensic Accounting Expert During Litigation

  Dealing with complex financial issues, identifying fraud or tracing assets, can be a daunting task when handling legal matters for a client. For many attorneys, retaining the services of a forensic accounting expert is an integral part of resolving the financial aspect of a legal battle or investigating a fraud claim.  Forensic accounting experts… Read More »

How to Prevent Hiring an Unethical Candidate

Statement Analysis as a Pre-employment Screening Tool Most people have probably heard of handwriting analysis, but many aren’t familiar with the process of Statement Analysis for pre-employment purposes. Statement Analysis is an advanced investigative technique administered to guide employers during the selection and hiring process. Since 53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information and… Read More »

Is Your Employee Lapping The Receivables?

What is Lapping? Lapping is an asset misappropriations fraud scheme and is one of the most common methods of concealing receivables skimming. Lapping is the fraudster’s version of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. It is the extraction of money from one account to cover shortages in another account. For example, customer A’s payment comes in and… Read More »

Fraud Tip of the Month

Billing Fraud Schemes Fraud of any nature can quickly drain company profitability.  Billing schemes account for 28.7% of all fraud and is one of the more common types of schemes we see in organizations. In smaller organizations, billing schemes are easy to pull off due to the lack of separation of duties or management oversight.… Read More »