Masterclass in Forensic Accounting

Explore the nature of fraud as deception, its types like asset misappropriation, fraudulent financial statements, and corruption, and learn prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution.

Explore the fraud triangle, including pressure, opportunity, and rationalization, and the fraud scale, using data from the Association of Fraud Examiners to compare 2014 and 2024 occupational fraud patterns.

Identify six fraud opportunities: lack of internal controls, audit trail, performance judgment, information asymmetry, weak discipline, and ignorance or apathy. Strengthen control environment, sapid activities, and accounting systems.

Explore the fraud triangle's three elements—pressure, opportunity, and rationalization—and how they drive collusive fraud; learn signaling, two-person sign-offs, and the role of power types in detection and training.

Explore a four-stage framework—fraud prevention, detection, investigation, and legal action—emphasizing a culture of honesty, risk assessment, and training to prevent fraud.

Develop a culture of honesty, openness, and assistance while eliminating fraud opportunities through strong internal controls, background checks, a code of conduct, employee assistance programs, and proactive fraud auditing.

Identify six fraud symptoms—accounting anomalies, analytical anomalies, behavior, internal control weaknesses, extravagant lifestyle, and tips and complaints—and see how unusual behavior triggers investigations, illustrated by the Elgin Aircraft case.

Identify internal control weaknesses, including segregation of duties, improper authorization, and lack of independent checks, while recognizing tips, whistleblowers, and tone at the top as fraud signals.

Learn data driven fraud detection by detailing the data analysis process, data access, and techniques like Benford's law, stratification, real time analysis, and proactive investigation.

Master horizontal and vertical analyses of balance sheets and profit and loss statements using AI prompts to spot red flags and explore forensic analysis for fraud detection.

Explore theft investigation methods, including surveillance, invigilation, physical and electronic evidence, and learn to build a vulnerability chart, assess predication, and coordinate fraud investigations.

Explore real-world theft investigation methods, including surveillance, invigilation, and gathering physical and electronic evidence, with emphasis on time-stamped records and court-admissible audit trails.

Secure the device, clone it for a bit-for-bit copy, then conduct manual and automated searches for electronic evidence and social media fraud indicators using CRC checks and hash concepts.

Explore concealment investigative methods and the role of documentary evidence and electronic records in fraud investigations, including discovery sampling and handling hard-to-get records.

Examine how investigators obtain hard-to-get documentary evidence with subpoenas or warrants, and how document experts verify authenticity, handwriting, printing, and potential alterations in disputed documents.

Explore conversion investigation methods, including government, private, and online sources, and use the net worth method to expose gaps between lifestyle and income in fraud cases.