Details

Fraud in Accounts Payable

How to Prevent It
1. Aufl.

von: Mary S. Schaeffer
53,99 €
Verlag:	Wiley
Format:	EPUB
Veröffentl.:	03.10.2008
ISBN/EAN:	9780470435311
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	224

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

Praise for Fraud in Accounts Payable "Fraud in Accounts Payable is an insightful book that takes an in-depth look at the three most frequently committed fraudulent cash disbursement schemes directly related to your accounts payable function. Mary provides colorful and poignant stories showing how easy it can be to steal from both within and outside an organization. But the real beauty of this book is that Mary illustrates ways you can immediately begin implementing effective and efficient controls to reduce the opportunities for fraud within your organization." —Matthew D. Storlie, CFE, Fraud & Forensic Services Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP "Mary has delivered another book full of specific suggestions for improving accounts payable processes. Fraud in Accounts Payable is an easy-to-read guide that identifies real-world problems and offers practical solutions. Her books and articles have quickly become some of my core resources." —Stephanie K. O'Cain, Chief Financial Officer Municipal Association of South Carolina "Fraud could never take place in my accounts payable department." "My employees would never steal from me! I trust them too much . . ." Sound familiar? The definitive resource for every accounts payable department, Fraud in Accounts Payable affords you a bird's-eye view of what's really going on in your accounts payable department and how you can defend it against every potential type of fraud, including check fraud, payroll fraud, and T&E fraud. Written by Mary Schaeffer, America's most accomplished accounts payable expert, this thorough and highly readable guide is filled with authoritative tips, techniques, and advice on: <ul> <li> Uncovering hidden pockets of weakness where your organization is vulnerable </li> <li> Getting rid of those bad practices that allow all sorts of frauds to flourish </li> <li> Setting up antifraud safeguards </li> </ul> Reminding us to "never say never," Fraud in Accounts Payable explains in plain English how to protect your accounts payable department so it becomes—and stays—financially healthy.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxiii Part One: Where Accounts Payable Fraud Can Happen in Your Organization 1 1 Profiles of Fraud in the Business World 3 Three Big Myths 4 Fraud Statistics 4 Occupational Fraud: It’s a Big Problem 5 Definitions and Frequency 5 Who Gets Hit the Hardest? 6 How Fraud Is Detected 7 Who Commits Occupational Fraud? 7 To Prosecute or Not 8 Is Fraud an Equal Opportunity Crime? 9 Fraud in the Eyes of the Beholder 9 Effect of Status of Fraudster 10 Big Boss Issue 11 Why Do Insiders Steal? 11 Conditions that Permit Frauds to Occur 12 Why Aren’t More Fraudsters Prosecuted? 13 Fraud in the Real World 13 Concluding Thoughts 14 2 Check Fraud: Still a Huge Problem 17 Internal Controls to Prevent Check Fraud by Insiders 17 Recommended Controls 19 What Else Can You Do? 20 How Bad Is the Check Fraud Problem? 20 What Does the Law Say? 21 Impact on Accounts Payable 22 What Should You Do? 22 Positive Pay and Its Cousins 23 Internal Controls, Segregation of Duties, and Positive Pay Exceptions 25 Internal Controls and Paper Checks 26 What Can Go Wrong 26 Consequences of Poor Internal Check Production Processes 27 The Right Way 27 The Best Way 29 Questions that Reveal Your Internal Check Controls 29 Best Check-Handling Practices between Printing and Mailing 30 Mailing Checks 30 From Printing to Mailing: Do You Know Where Your Checks Are? 31 When the Checks Are Signed and Returned 33 Wire Transfers 34 Rebate and Refund Checks 34 Rush Checks 34 Why Returning Checks to Requisitioners Can Be a Problem 35 How Companies Handle Check Return Requests by Requisitioners 36 Fraud in the Real World 38 Concluding Thoughts 41 3 Check Stock: Stop the Fraudsters’ Presses 43 Security Features in Your Check Stock 43 What Else? 45 Some Check Fraud Security Features 45 A Word about Void Pantographs 49 Void Pantographs and Positive Pay 49 Fraud in the Real World 50 Concluding Thoughts 50 4 P-Card: Not as Big an Issue as You Might Think 51 Printing of the Invoice 51 Start Off on the Right Foot 52 Policy and Procedures Manual 52 Spell Out Consequences 53 Require Documentation 54 Don’t Overlook Receipts 54 Role of a Program Administrator in Fraud Prevention 55 Approvals and Compliance 55 Role of Limits with Respect to Fraud 56 Train, Train, and Then Train Again 56 What About Inappropriate Use? 57 Fraud in the Real World 58 Closing Thoughts 59 5 Electronic Payment Fraud: Not a Growth Industry—Yet! 61 ACH Blocks 61 ACH Filters 62 ACH Positive Pay 63 Payment Account Data: Is It Accurate? 63 Ach Data Accuracy: Real-Life Solutions to a Very Practical Problem 65 CPA’s Perspective 68 Fraud in the Real World 70 Closing Thoughts 70 6 Desktop Fraud: Few Think About This—But Everyone Should 71 Example 71 Overview 72 Issues 73 Recommendation 74 Lovallo’s Guidelines 74 Bringing It All Together 76 Fraud in the Real World 77 Concluding Thoughts 78 7 Travel and Entertainment Fraud: Not All Your Employees Are Honest 79 The Book that Teaches Your Employees How to Steal 80 Danger Signs 80 Other T&E Scams 81 Drawing a Line 82 Latest T&E Issue: Verifying Boarding Passes Printed at Home 82 Solutions to the Boarding Pass Issue 83 T&E Fraud Prevention Best Practices 84 Detecting Expense Reimbursement Fraud 85 Uniform Enforcement of the T&E Policy 86 What to Do When Expense Reimbursement Fraud Is Detected 86 Last-Ditch Collection Efforts 87 Fraud in the Real World 88 Closing Thoughts 90 8 Petty Cash Fraud: Petty Indeed 93 Petty Cash Awful Practices 93 How Much Money Should the Box Have? 94 Petty Cash Box 95 Surprise Audits 96 Where Does Responsibility for the Box Lie? 96 Do We Still Need Petty Cash? 97 Receipt Review 97 Petty Cash versus T&E 98 Fraud in the Real World 98 Concluding Thoughts 99 9 Vendor and Invoice Fraud: Not Every Invoice (Or Vendor!) Is Legit 101 Fraudulent Invoices—or Not 102 Solicitations that Look Like Invoices 102 Other Common Invoice Frauds 103 Fraud and Poor Payment Practices 104 A Word about Collusion 106 Brief Commentary on Purchasing 106 Up-Front Vendor Verification 107 Control Challenge in Real Life 107 Advice from the Better Business Bureau 111 Fraud in the Real World 112 Concluding Thoughts 113 10 Master Vendor File Fraud: How Employees Play Games with Your Records 115 Some Really Bad Master Vendor File Practices 116 Master Vendor File Reports 116 Coding Standards Prevent Fraud 117 Cleansing the Master Vendor File 118 Who Has Responsibility for the Master Vendor File 119 A New System 120 Master Vendor File and Your Employees 121 Fraud in the Real World 121 Closing Thoughts 122 11 Payroll Fraud: Ghostbusting and More 123 Phantom Employees 123 What You Can Do to Detect and Prevent Ghost Employees 124 Falsified Hours and/or Salary 125 What You Can Do to Detect and Prevent Employees from Falsifying Data 126 Commission Schemes 127 False Workers’ Compensation Claims 128 Some Overall Prevention Tactics 129 Fraud in the Real World 130 Concluding Thoughts 131 12 Telecom Fraud: Yes, It Can Happen to You 133 Types of Phone Fraud 133 Nuisance Fraud 134 Examples of Cramming 134 Getting Refunds and Combating Cramming 135 Slamming 136 Phone System and Voice Mail Fraud 137 Social Engineering Fraud 138 Call Forwarding/Conferencing Problems 139 VOIP Fraud 140 Fraud in the Real World 141 Concluding Thoughts 142 Part Two: Strategies to Deter, Prevent, And Detect All Sorts of Accounts Payable Fraud 143 13 Best Practices—Not: Tactics that Unintentionally Promote Fraud 145 Closing Thoughts 147 14 Fraud Monitoring Reports: A Necessary Evil 149 Automated Monitoring 149 How Anyone Can Run Reports 150 A Word about More Sophisticated Monitoring 150 How Much Checking Is Enough? 151 The Big Report Everyone Should Run 152 The Easy Report 152 Other Fraud Detection Reports 153 The ACT List 159 Closing Thoughts 160 15 Fraud Detection and Prevention: Simple Tactics You Can Use 161 2006 Report to the Nation Fraud Detection 161 PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007 Global Economic Crime Survey Fraud Detection 162 Anonymous Hotlines 162 What Companies Can Do to Prevent Fraud 163 Simple Tactics to Make Sure No One Robs the Till on Your Watch 163 Fraud in the Real World 166 Closing Thoughts 167 16 Sarbanes-Oxley 169 Sarbanes-Oxley 169 Overview of the Act 170 Sarbanes-Oxley Survey 170 Impact of the Act on Accounts Payable Operations 171 Outside Influences 172 Functions Improved 172 T&E Reimbursement and Review Processes 173 Internal Audit Reviews 173 Backup for Check Requests 174 Records Retention Policy 174 1099 Reporting 174 Invoices 175 Master Vendor File 176 Other Regulatory Concerns 176 Using the Act to Enforce Needed Change 176 The Act and Its Effects on Private Companies 177 Whistle-Blower Protections 178 The Anonymous Hotline 178 Concluding Thoughts 179 Appendix A: Fraud Schemes: Physical and Virtual Checks 181 Appendix B: 2007 Top Frauds 183 Appendix C: Segregation of Duties 185 Appendix D: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Titles 187 Resources 191 Index 195

Rezension

"The author has significant experience in this area and offers compelling best practices to detect and prevent fraud from occurring within your organization. This book goes a long way to get your organization thinking and acting to detect and prevent fraud." (Auditnet.org, October 2008)

Autorenportrait

Mary S. Schaeffer is a nationally recognized accounts payable expert. She is the founder and Editorial Director of Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, a newsletter for professionals interested in payment issues. She is the author of twelve books and has written hundreds of articles that have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Corporate Cashflow, Treasury & Risk, Business Credit, the Writer, Newsday, and newsweek.com. She has an MBA in finance and is a member of the New York Financial Writers' Association. She is a regular contributor to AICPA's Corporate Finance Insider publication.

Back cover copy

Praise for Fraud in Accounts Payable "Fraud in Accounts Payable is an insightful book that takes an in-depth look at the three most frequently committed fraudulent cash disbursement schemes directly related to your accounts payable function. Mary provides colorful and poignant stories showing how easy it can be to steal from both within and outside an organization. But the real beauty of this book is that Mary illustrates ways you can immediately begin implementing effective and efficient controls to reduce the opportunities for fraud within your organization." â??Matthew D. Storlie, CFE, Fraud & Forensic Services Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP "Mary has delivered another book full of specific suggestions for improving accounts payable processes. Fraud in Accounts Payable is an easy-to-read guide that identifies real-world problems and offers practical solutions. Her books and articles have quickly become some of my core resources." â??Stephanie K. O'Cain, Chief Financial Officer Municipal Association of South Carolina "Fraud could never take place in my accounts payable department." "My employees would never steal from me! I trust them too much . . ." Sound familiar? The definitive resource for every accounts payable department, Fraud in Accounts Payable affords you a bird's-eye view of what's really going on in your accounts payable department and how you can defend it against every potential type of fraud, including check fraud, payroll fraud, and T&E fraud. Written by Mary Schaeffer, America's most accomplished accounts payable expert, this thorough and highly readable guide is filled with authoritative tips, techniques, and advice on: <ul> <li> Uncovering hidden pockets of weakness where your organization is vulnerable </li> <li> Getting rid of those bad practices that allow all sorts of frauds to flourish </li> <li> Setting up antifraud safeguards </li> </ul> Reminding us to "never say never," Fraud in Accounts Payable explains in plain English how to protect your accounts payable department so it becomesâ??and staysâ??financially healthy.