Fighting Methodology in your Organization
Organizations often believe they can execute a fraud investigation internally. Sometimes, internal audit, legal, or compliance teams are asked to participate in or lead a fraud evaluation or investigation. However, without proper protocols and departmental procedures in place, there can be significant missteps that may put the organization at risk.
In my many years working in internal audit, I have often noted that, in some cases, management may defer to internal audit to conduct an investigation. In other cases, they may manage the investigation without the knowledge or involvement of internal audit. There are various reasons for each approach, but if internal audit is involved, it must establish appropriate departmental procedures to adequately evaluate or investigate the issue.
This course will provide a methodology and key considerations for any organization deciding to conduct a fraud investigation internally. This guidance is not intended to be all-inclusive for every organization, but rather to offer thought points and actionable steps in developing an effective fraud-fighting process. Some of the phases discussed may be performed in a different order depending on how your organization manages the engagement.
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
