...Using Teams in Production and Operations Management: Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters. By: For: Class: Bus 508: Contemporary Business Date: 13 November 2012 Abstract: A case study for the Strayer University, Woodbridge, VA, Business 508 class, this paper provides for a brief review of 1) The skills that a forensic accountant requires; 2) The role of the forensic accountant in the courtroom; 3) The legal responsibilities of the forensic accountant; and lastly, 4) The role of the forensic accountant in a couple of major accounting fraud scandals. The world of Accounting has seen several major scandals since the early 1990s. These include major accounting failures such as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Tyco, Phar-Mor, Cendant, Computer Associates, AOL, Freddie Mac, ImClone, Qwest Communications, Royal Ahold, Health South Corporation, AIG, Lehman Brothers, and most recently the Olympus Corporation. Some of these have resulted in the collapse and dissolution of the company – Enron, Adelphia; others have resulted in a major restructuring of the company – AOL, AIG, Freddie Mac. Whatever the result, they have all been caused by accounting fraud – either “cooking the books” to hide major losses or to hide the theft of funds. It has also resulted in the failure and absorption of the one of the Big Five Accounting firms – Arthur Anderson. Besides the whistle blower who brought most of these to public view and the lawyers who have been involved their dismantling...
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...D.W. Griffith capitalized upon already existing theories and social positions in order to present audiences with entertaining plots and dramatic antagonists. Often these subjects consisted of individuals that were potentially marketable regarding public opinion and sensationalism, allowing him to make a name for himself in the film world as a source of artistic and technical innovations. Perhaps known best for his controversial film, Birth of a Nation, he has been applauded and crucified by modern historians and analysts regarding his creative practices and basically, spread of racial stereotypes to early film audiences. The denigration of his work by modern scholars lies mainly within the characters and racial tensions that were perpetuated on-screen as a result of his conceptual character options. However, in many of his early films that were produced at the Biograph Company, Griffith initiated exposure for gender, racial and ethnic groups that were largely ignored and propelled these issues to the forefront of the public eye. Griffith should be celebrated as a filmmaker that used controversy to provoke thought regarding issues of race, class and gender, and certainly his other films have the teaching capability that Birth of a Nation is commonly utilized for. There are several other pieces that were produced by Griffith that are symbolic of public attitudes and accurate representation of society near the turn of the twentieth century. These works should be celebrated as primary...
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...The greatest of the silent clowns is Buster Keaton, not only because of what he did, but because of how he did it. Harold Lloyd made us laugh as much, Charlie Chaplin moved us more deeply, but no one had more courage than Buster. I define courage as Hemingway did: "Grace under pressure." In films that combined comedy with extraordinary physical risks, Buster Keaton played a brave spirit who took the universe on its own terms, and gave no quarter. I'm immersed in his career right now, viewing all of the silent features and many of the shorts with students at the University of Chicago. Having already written about Keaton's "The General" (1927) in this series, I thought to choose another title. "The Navigator," perhaps, or "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," or "Our Hospitality." But they are all of a piece; in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies. Most of these movies were long thought to be lost. "The General," with Buster as a train engineer in the Civil War, was always available, hailed as one of the supreme masterpieces of silent filmmaking. But other features and shorts existed in shabby, incomplete prints, if at all, and it was only in the 1960s that film historians began to assemble and restore Keaton's lifework. Now almost everything has been recovered, restored, and is available on DVDs and tapes that range from watchable to sparkling. It's said...
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...Average American Boy contests, with beauty waived, I might have been Master America most any year between 1893 and 1910.” This insistence was not random; it suited someone who doggedly set out to create a type on-screen as close as he could make it to an average specimen—a mirror image of the American audience. The fact that the man who said this was anything but average, a brilliantly gifted physical performer with a genius for constructing comic gags, who moreover understood the film medium with greater sophistication than all but a handful of his peers, speaks to both his modesty and his vanity. It also approaches the mystery of why audiences today may find it harder to connect with Harold Lloyd than they do with, say, Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. He embodied the spirit of the American dream that any average individual with gumption could attain success, an ideal that still seemed within reach in the twenties, before the Depression, Vietnam, and national disenchantment. Chaplin flirted perennially with pathos, Keaton with melancholy, while Lloyd went his merry way, positive thinking and triumphant. “It’s the optimism,” wrote his defender Richard Griffith, “which chiefly sticks in the highbrow craw and accounts for the continued fundamental lack of interest in him and the continued rating of him below Chaplin, Keaton, and even [Harry] Langdon. Weltschmerz is hard to find in him . . .” And not just world-sorrow, but alienation of any sort. David Thomson gets it right, as...
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...05/19/2013 forensic accountant CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS forensic accountant CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS 125/19/20135/19/20135/19/2013 fraud busters In today’s world, it is knows by everyone that different developments were taken place in the last periods. Our globalized world in a state of continuous technological change and innovations has been challenged by new generation criminology risk factors. From business, government, regulatory authorities, and the courts evidence indicates that a higher level of expertise is necessary to analyze current financial transactions and events. Forensic accounting is a specialized area of an accounting practice that describes engagements which results from actual or anticipated disputes or litigations. Forensic accounting has been defined as accounting analyzers that can uncover possible fraud that is suitable for presentation in court. A Forensic accountant needs accounting, law, finance, investigative and research skills to identify and prevent fraud. Forensic accountant uses her/his knowledge of accounting, law, and criminology to uncover fraud, as well as gather any evidence and present it to the court....
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...Forensic accountants are the auditors of the forensic accounting practice. They investigate, coordinate data and offer their evidence in trial; and because it is forensic business, the evidence they find is suitable to present and will hold its proof in a court trail. Forensic accountants usually engage in different sectors of the business world; economics, finance, accounting, business management and marketing, to name a few. They utilize their understanding of these different sectors to gather and investigate data that will be used in litigation. Currently though, we live in a world in which financial fraud is becoming increasingly more prevalent. Forensic accountants are expanding their roles and venturing into financial fraud prevention. Forensic accountants are utilizing their skills and designing policies to reduce the risk of fraud, and working closely fraud deterrence research. To be a forensic accountant, the individual needs to possess certain skills and abilities to effectively perform the tasks at hand. A forensic accountant needs to have excellent communication skills, both in oral and the written language. Communication is the effective way to convey thoughts, messages and information. It requires the individual to actively convey the message to the receiving party. The communication is complete when the receiving party has understood the message. In their search for evidence, among data that may be or may not be written, forensic accountants need...
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...U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation 2012 The Strategic Information and Operations Center at FBI Headquarters is the 24/7 command post that monitors FBI operations and law enforcement activities around the globe. An FBI agent examines a potentially contaminated letter during a white powder training exercise. 2012 The FBI Story I A Message from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III For the FBI and its partners, 2012 was a year that reminded us once again of the seriousness of the security threats facing our nation. During the year, extremists plotted to attack—unsuccessfully, thanks to the work of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces—the U.S. Capitol, the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and other landmarks on U.S. soil. Tragically, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, a hateful attack in Benghazi took the lives of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. In the cyber realm, a rising tide of hackers took electronic aim at global cyber infrastructure, causing untold damages. High-dollar white-collar crimes of all kinds also continued to siphon significant sums from the pocketbooks of consumers. And in Newtown, Connecticut, 20 young children and six adults lost their lives in one of the worst mass shootings in American history, ending a year of violence that saw similar tragedies around the country. Working with its colleagues around the globe, the FBI is committed to taking a leadership role in protecting the nation. As you can see from...
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...Check Fraud and Check Washing MG 261 Check Fraud and Check Washing Table of Contents Introduction _________________________________________________________3 Check Fraud_________________________________________________________3 Check Washing_______________________________________________________5 Union Planters Bank, N.A. v. Rogers______________________________________6 Conclusion___________________________________________________________7 References___________________________________________________________8 Introduction In 2002 DreamWorks produced a block buster film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks titled “Catch Me If You Can.” This film portrays the glamorous lifestyle and subsequent fall of perhaps the most infamous check fraud perpetrator of all time, Frank Abagnale. Fraud is defined as “deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence…” (Dictionary.com, 2012). Check washing is when a person would “…erase the ink on a check…and rewrite the check to themselves increasing the amount payable…” (Center, 1995-2009). If you saw “Catch Me If You Can,” this is what you witnessed Mr. Abagnale doing with the Pan Am pilot paychecks. Both of these types of fraud are very simple ways to steal from the consumer when they least expect it. Check Fraud According to the National Check Fraud Center, “check fraud is one of the largest challenges facing businesses and financial institutions today.” With the availability of home computers equipped...
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...Tuesday 7/9 “To build a fire” Describe the different viewpoints of the man of the dog. Thursday 7/11 “The open Boat” What are the different social roles of the four men in the boat? How does their social standing affect their character and the natural forces they struggle against? There were four men in the boat. They were the correspondent, the oiler, the cook and the captain. Each of them had their unique characteristics and their own social roles. The correspondent functions as a narrator of the story and he seems to be the only one who observes the waves and wonders why he is caught on the ocean at the first place. He wonders whether he was meant to be drowning in the ocean and curses 7 gods of sea. The oiler is the hardest worker in the boat in order to survive. He does not think or share his mind but only follows the captain’s orders. Ironically, even though his contribution towards the survival, he is the only one who does not make it. Unlike the correspondent and the oiler, the cook doesn’t paddle due to lack of ability. However he seems to be only positive thinkers in the boat and he bails water out to avoid sinking. When he saw a land, he imagines himself of his favorite pie in the middle of survival. Finally the captain is the leader; he is very calm and makes best decision in order to secure crews’ life. At the beginning of the story, he was miserable as he lost his ship and was injured. However throughout the story he shows he responsibility to save...
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...Forensic Accountants: Fraud Busters Strayer University Business 508 August 11, 2013 Abstract The paper will determine the five important skills a forensic accountant must possess and describe their role within a courtroom environment. It will also analyze the legal responsibility of the accountant while serving its clients business. Giving two examples where a forensic accountant played an important role in aiding attorneys in presenting fraudulent bookkeeping records of company’s who ultimately committed white-collar crimes. Have you ever heard the figure of speech a “needle in a haystack” when referring to finding a small object in a large setting? The task of performing a very detailed search seems impossible. Leaving no stone unturned and demanding hours and hours of mental and manual labor. This is what a forensic accountant faces. By definition, a forensic investigation of any kind is conducted with the purpose of obtaining evidence that will be used in a court case. Forensic accounting is simply the analysis of financial documents use as tax returns, bank statements, canceled checks and the like, in search of proof of a criminal act, be it tax evasion, running numbers, embezzlement, money laundering, fraud by wire or securities fraud (DiGabriele, 2009). These crimes exists for the sole purpose of illegally making money. Leaving a paper trail pointing to criminal activity producing money coming into and leaving the organization...
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...purpose of this case study is to identify the management issues of Satyam Computer Services Limited’s, former chairman Ramalinga Raju when he admitted to corporate fraud in 2009, and how these issues could be addressed. Satyam Computer Services Limited, (now known as Mahindra Satyam) is a “leading global information communications and technology company”. (Anon., n.d.) It is a part of the “US $15.4 billion dollar Mahindra group, a global industrial federation of companies of the top 10 business houses based in India”. (Anon., n.d., p. 1; Anon., n.d.)). 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT ISSUES “India’s corporate community experienced a significant shock in January 2009 with damaging revelations about board failure and colossal fraud in the financials of Satyam.” (Afsharipour, 2010)Ramalinga Raju and the CFO of the company were charged with “conspiracy, cheating and falsifying records. Raju was also allegedly using salary payments to fabricated employees, in order to steal money from the company.” (Anon., n.d.) This case study will explore the unethical behaviours of Ramalinga Raju, but also how ethical standards and social responsibility factors in with Satyam’s Computer Services Limited’s own management issues, which would have also contributed to the fraudulent activity that resulted in one of the biggest accounting fraud scandals in India. Secondly this case is going to explore how this case “served as a catalyst for the Indian...
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...CYBER SCAM AND ITS EFFECTS November 27, 2011 SUBMITTED BY: FETALVER, FRANCIS VIOLETA, ROGENE CRIS SUBMITTED TO: MRS. MARY GRACE P. ALFANTA I Introduction Background of the Study Experts and law-enforcement officials who track Internet crime say scams have intensified in the past six months, as fraudsters take advantage of economic confusion and anxiety to target both consumers and businesses. Thieves are sending out phony emails and putting up fake Web sites pretending to be banks, mortgage-service providers or even government agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Cell phones and Internet-based phone services have also been used to seek out victims. The object: to drain customer accounts of money or to gain information for identity theft. Most scams are done by e-mail (Spam). They entice users to give them critical information like usernames, passwords, credit card information, or other types of account information. Most of these e-mails can easily be identified as fraudulent, by identifying a couple of general characteristics. If someone pretending to represent a company or organization contact you by e-mail to supply them with usernames, passwords or other critical information by e-mail, then you can be certain it’s fraudulent. Today we have something we call SSL (Secure Socket Layer). E-mail is one of the most un-secure methods to send user information and passwords. Most organizations...
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...was EVP and a board member along with James Rigas (son) (USA Today, 2004). Together they owned the majority of Adelphia's stock and occupied the majority of the seats on the board. These two components would be key in the fraud that would ensue. The personal lives of the Rigas’ would be the root cause of their need for cash and the reason behind the fraud they would commit (USA Today, 2004). The Scandal The government described it as ''one of the most extensive financial frauds ever to take place at a public company" (Sorkin, 2004). The Rigas' used company money to construct a private golf course, own several private jets, and purchase multiple several luxury homes. They were able to do this by establishing "complicated cash-management systems to spread money around to various family-owned entities and as a cover for stealing about $100 million for themselves" (AP, 2005). In order to keep investment money flowing in, they would manipulate the books to meet analyst expectations, thus inflating the stock price and at times they would mix Adelphia's funds with their own private funds. Upon realizing the amount of funds that had been taken, Tim Rigas "limited" the amount of money his father could take to $1,000,000 per month. One example of the fraud they committed was they disguised Adelphia's actual expenses for digital decoder boxes. In 2001 the company claimed that it sold 525,000 boxes for $101 Adelphia million to an unaudited Rigas-owned company that has no cable...
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...Burning Down the House: Mortgage Fraud and the Destruction of Residential Neighborhoods Ann Fulmer March 2010 Burning Down the House: Mortgage Fraud and the Destruction of Residential Neighborhoods Mortgage fraud is bank robbery without a gun. 1 It is a high-yield, 2 low risk enterprise that has been reported in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, 3 Canada, 4 New Zealand, 5 Australia, 6 and England. 7 In the United States, it is committed by organized international and domestic rings, 8 street gangs, 9 terrorists, 10 drug traffickers, 11 real estate agents, 12 closing attorneys, 13 appraisers, 14 mortgage brokers, 15 The targeted victims distinguish mortgage fraud from predatory lending. In predatory lending cases the borrower is victimized by the illegal practices of the lender or its agents with respect to fees and disclosures relating to the cost of the loan. It is unfortunate that the media, consumer activists, legislators and law enforcement personnel frequently conflate mortgage fraud with predatory lending since it adds unnecessary confusion to an already complex issue and diverts attention and badly needed resources from the fight against true mortgage fraud. 2 The average “take” on a bank robbery is approximately $3,000.00. By contrast, the average straw borrower receives a “cut” of at least $10,000 and the orchestrator’s “take” in a mortgage fraud transaction frequently exceeds $100,000. In a few cases the orchestrator’s take was in excess of $1...
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...SAS 99 AND ITS CHALLENGES TO THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION Submitted by: Ronneil I. Capones Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit, also known as Statement on Auditing Standard 99 was issued in November 2002. It is a revision to improve the deficiencies of SAS 82 with regards to audit process and quality (Marczewski and Akers, 2005, p. 38). The revision of SAS 82 was started prior to the huge accounting scandals that shook public confidence in the reliability of audits. Nevertheless, it gave the accounting profession more focus on tackling the issues of fraud detection on audits Three key fraud risk factors are classified and described in SAS 99; incentive/pressure to perpetrate fraud, opportunity to carry out the fraud, and attitude/ability to rationalize the fraudulent action. Incentives or pressure to perpetrate fraud may arise from the threat of losing profitability as a result of failures in the industry, declining product demand, frequent negative cash flows from operations, threat of losing job because of pressure from management to meet analysts’ expectations are a few examples (Casabona and Grego, 2003, p. 17). Opportunities to carry out fraud are characterized by the following conditions; abundance of transactions with related parties not within the normal course of business, unusual complex transactions coupled with subjective judgments, ineffective monitoring by management, board of directors, and audit committee (Casabona and Grego, 2003, p.17)...
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