Companies devote significant time and money to the task of making sure that their customers don’t steal from them. But how much time do they spend considering the risk that their own employees are stealing from them? Each year, the […]

If you were searching for financial statement fraud, what would you look for? Tracy talks about some of the basic/common signs you might see if Tracy Coenen teaches about some basic signs of financial statement fraud.

The idea of performing a “fraud examination” sounds interesting to many. They don’t necessarily want to deal with the numbers that a forensic accountant wades through, but they like the idea of someone sleuthing and digging through records. I’ll admit […]

When the IRS believes a taxpayer has unreported income, they will use alternative methods to attempt to determine the true income. One of those methods is the Expenditures Method. Tracy Coenen explains the basic methodology in this video. Note that […]

Forensic accounting and fraud investigation are hot specialties in the accounting world. Experts agree that the need for fraud detection services is growing, creating opportunities for small and midsized firms that are looking to start or expand a forensic accounting […]

When you think of information in an internal fraud investigation, you most likely think of things like a company’s internal records. These include accounting documents, personnel files, payroll records, accounting system information, and internal memos. While these items are key […]

Some companies think they are protected against employee fraud because they have strong internal controls. Often, that’s the case. Good controls mean the rules are followed and the money is properly accounted for. Sometimes, however, good controls are meaningless. What […]

With thousands of detailed accounting rules, how can there be financial statement fraud? There are areas of the financial statements that rely heavily on the judgment of management. They make estimates and decide how to apply the accounting rules. This […]

As victims of occupational fraud reflect on crimes committed against their companies, they wonder if there were any signs that a fraud was occurring. They wonder how a trusted employee could steal from the company. Sadly, frauds are committed by […]

I’ve been investigating fraud for over 25 years. When I first started, financial fraud wasn’t a big topic. In fact, most people had never heard of forensic accounting. Then in 2001 and 2002 everyone became more aware of the issue […]