InConsult is proud to promote International Fraud Awareness Week 2021 which runs from 14-21 November 2021.
Organised by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), International Fraud Awareness Week is a global effort dedicated to fraud awareness, detection and prevention.
WHY IS FRAUD AWARENESS SO IMPORTANT?
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), $248 million was lost to fraud scams such as phishing, hacking and identity theft in 10 months to October 2021.
Fraud takes many shapes and forms, among them corporate fraud, consumer fraud, tax fraud, identity theft and many others. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) research, the most common form of occupational fraud was Asset Misappropriation, with billing schemes, expense reimbursement and cheque tampering schemes occurring most frequently. Whilst Financial Statement fraud (improper disclosures, improper asset valuation and understated revenues) occurs less often but it causes the greatest median loss.
WHAT CAN YOUR ORGANISATION DO FOR INTERNATIONAL FRAUD AWARENESS WEEK?
Fraud Week is the perfect time to go a step further to raise fraud awareness in your organisation. Strategies and actions to manage fraud and corruption include:
Prevention – proactive measures designed to help reduce the risk of fraud and corruption occurring in the first place.
Detection – measures designed to uncover incidents of fraud and corruption when they occur.
Response – measures designed to take corrective action and remedy the harm caused by fraud or corruption.
There are many things organisations can do during International Fraud Awareness Week, but here is our top 7 things:
1. REVIEW YOUR FRAUD AND CORRUPTION CONTROL SYSTEM (FCCS)
A key element of any Fraud Management Framework is an overarching Fraud and Corruption Control Policy, a comprehensive Fraud and Corruption Control System and a concise and relevant Fraud and Corruption Control Plan. When was the last time your policy and plan were reviewed and updated? Did you know there was an update to AS 8001:2021 Fraud & Corruption Control? We suggest the plan be reviewed at least annually and during International Fraud Awareness Week is the perfect time.
An organisation’s approach to managing the risks of fraud and corruption should be underpinned by a whole-of-organisation policy framework, with appropriate benchmarking against established best-practice prevention programs and standards.
Want to achieve better practice? Schedule an independent review of your Fraud and Corruption Control framework every 3-5 years.
2. UPDATE YOUR ORGANISATIONS FRAUD RISK PROFILE
Which areas in your organisation are most exposed to fraud?
We suggest reviewing your risk register/ risk profiles and your incident register during International Fraud Awareness Week and scheduling some fraud risk assessment workshops for locations and business processes where risks are high.
3. CONDUCT A CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXERCISE INVOLVING A MAJOR FRAUD EVENT
If a major fraud is discovered in your organisation, it is likely that the crisis management team will be invoked. How well are you prepared? How will you handle the crisis? What will you say to the media?
For something a little different, why not plan a surprise crisis management desktop exercise during International Fraud Awareness Week?
4. SCHEDULE FRAUD AWARENESS TRAINING
InConsult offers in-house Fraud and Corruption Awareness training. The course is designed to help managers and staff understand the types of fraud and corruption risks, identify the early warning signs of potential fraud and develop strategies for designing effective internal controls. Contact us to discuss your specific training needs.
5. STAY INFORMED – READ AND CIRCULATE RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS TO STAFF
Awareness is about engaging with staff in different ways. Most professionals appreciate an informative, easy to read publication to improve their knowledge and raise their technical competency to another level. Check out these publications.
- Looking Out for the Fraud Red Flags Source: InConsult
- ACFE Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse Source: Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
Frauds occur every day and one way we can learn to improve fraud controls is through the errors and experiences of others. Stay up to date with the latest news and developments in fraud prevention, risk management, governance and internal audit, by following InConsult on Twitter.
6. WATCH ONE MINUTE RISK MANAGER
No time to read articles or attend a training course! Grab a drink, pop-corn, sit back, relax and tune in to our One Minute Risk Manager YouTube channel to watch a number of episodes about Fraud including “5 Tips to Protect Your Organisation from Internal Fraud” and “Understanding Fraud Red Flags”, click here to watch.
7. VISIT FRAUDWEEK.COM
Visit fraudweek.com for more ways to get involved.
FIND OUT MORE
For more information about how you can prevent fraud in your organisation, visit our Fraud and Corruption Prevention services page. If you would like to discuss our fraud and corruption prevention services, please contact us.