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Fraud and Illegal Acts

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Ryan Smith
Fraud and Illegal Acts

We have been hired to perform a year-end audit on Jersey Johnnie’s Surfboards Inc., an SEC registrant. Before the audit had been completed, the engagement partner received a call from the director of ethics and compliance stating that the ethics and compliance hotline received a call from an anonymous employee informing the Company of possible accounting improprieties as well as concerns about management’s overall commitment to accurate financial reporting. This call was concerning a questionable sales transaction between the Company and independent sales representative of the Company, Mr. Sinaloa. The anonymous employee noticed a sales invoice made out to Mr. Sinaloa, dated December 31, 2010. This was suspicious to the employee because the company did not recognize revenue associated with the products shipped to Mexico until Mr. Sinaloa presented a confirmed sales order to the Company and those products were shipped.
Management, the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors should respond promptly and appropriately to these allegations. “Failure to act aggressively against potential fraud could result in civil suits, enhanced criminal penalties under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, new sanctions established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and enforcement actions by federal and state regulations. Yet planning a response raises a litany of concerns” (Breuer & Vinegrad, 2004, p. 1). Even though internally investigating possible frauds may raise concern over the credibility of the company, the benefits often outweigh the risks. Internal investigation allows a company to gain control over the fraud. In a best-case scenario, the company should already have a plan in place to detect and prevent fraud rather than responding to it after the fact. The first step for the company to take is

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