This course builds off Focus on Financial Statement Fraud part one. It delves further into concepts of financial statement fraud as defined by the ACFE.
This course builds off Focus on Financial Statement Fraud part one. It delves further into concepts of financial statement fraud as defined by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). The ACFE fraud tree categorizes types of fraud schemes into three areas:
-Corruption -Asset Misappropriation -Financial Statement (FS) Fraud
Financial Statement fraud is the deliberate misrepresentation of the financial condition of an enterprise. It is accomplished through intentional misstatement or omission of amounts or disclosures in the FS to deceive financial statement users. According to the ACFE’s Report to the Nation, in 2016, financial statement fraud comprised 9.6% of cases with a median dollar loss of $975,000. The typical duration of financial statement fraud prior to detection is 24 months.
There are numerous methods under which revenue should be recognized. Accordingly, there are numerous ways perpetrators try to side-step the process. In part one of this series, we focused on areas of revenue recognition. This course will focus on other portions of the fraud tree under financial statement fraud including: timing, concealed liabilities and revenue, overstated liabilities and expenses, improper asset valuation and improper disclosures. Each of these areas are critical components for understanding financial statement fraud.
Field of Study: Auditing
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).
