Corporates frauds have the inherent power to bring large organizations to their knees, cause huge monetary loss, prompt lawsuits followed by significant legal expenses, lead to the imprisonment of employees and deteriorate the confidence in the market, in governments and in institutions.

While developments in the business world, especially on the technological front have accelerated the evolution of various industries, it has also engendered the evolution in white-collar crime especially corporate fraud. The destructive repercussions of corporate fraud have been felt across governmental bodies and companies irrespective of the industry they belong to.

In response, corporations and governments across the globe have stepped up their effort to inspect, prevent and penalize fraudulent practices, resulting in a greater emphasis for the domains of forensic auditing and accounting in the current economy.

White-collar crimes are nonviolent crimes motivated by monetary gain and include Embezzlement, Corporate Fraud and Money Laundering among many others. The activities initiated with an intent to create a gain for an individual or an organization through unlawful and false methods fall under the category of corporate fraud.

Among various white-collar crimes, ‘Corporate Fraud’ is of serious concern due to its intricate nature and its consequences which negatively affect the organization and its stakeholders, especially the customers, employees, and the society at large. Since Corporate Fraud is frequently disguised as legitimate transaction hidden behind existing business practices, it may at times prove difficult to detect and prevent completely. Yet through effective procedures and process, routine inspections, and frequent upgrades to the training of personnel, organizations and governments can effectively deter corporate fraud and counter its consequences.

Fraud detection cannot be only based on technology or processes, instead, it needs a comprehensive strategy that requires human involvement, along those lines.

This training course will empower you to recognize the root causes of fraud and white-collar crime in the current economy, understand the categories of fraud, equip you with methodologies of fraud detection and prevention, and heighten your ability to detect potential fraudulent situations.

In addition to the fundamentals of fraud investigation and detection in a digital environment; profit-loss evaluation, analysis of accounting books, legal concepts, and quantification of financial damages are also examined in this course.

Course Objectives

The primary objective of this Forensic Auditing and Accounting course is to empower the investigator or the overseer with:

• Fundamentals of accounting practices and financial statement analysis.
• An overview of the forensic accounting legal environment
• An understanding of the forensic accountant’s responsibility, forensic accounting, and fraud examination
• In-depth study of the procedures in fraud detection including:
• Methodologies to identify and categorize fraudulent practices.
• Various approaches to the collection of evidence
• Fraud investigation procedures
• Reporting, and the recovery procedure following legal prosecution.
• Business Valuation Strategies
• Knowledge to plan and strategize viable frameworks and procedures for fraud detection and prevention.
• The essential expertise and to become a more effective and efficient forensic auditing and accounting investigator/overseer.

Training Methodology

All courses are delivered tailored to the needs of the organization and the audience. This Forensic Auditing and Accounting course training includes interactive training, group activities where the group will prepare and present on a subject, audio/video presentations, individual and group experiential learning activities based on adult learning methodologies.

Throughout the course of the training program, participants will be encouraged and challenged to work on topical case studies with the objective to understand the practical implications of the subjects covered.

Organization Benefit

With key personnel attending this Forensic Auditing and Accounting course, your organization will benefit in the following ways:

• Increased efficiency in fraud detection will result in increased revenue potential by avoiding the damaging after-effects of corporate fraud.
• Improvement in crisis management by creating a resource pool equipped for fighting fraud in an emergency thus minimizing its negative repercussions.
• Improved procedures for fraud detection and prevention will lead to greater emphasis on quality accounting standards and overall business processes.
• Better-quality forensic auditing and accounting practices/standards will result in a boost of stakeholders’ confidence, especially investors in the case of corporations and the public in the case of governmental bodies.
• Centralized process will also result in uniformity of fraud intelligence data which is generally gathered and analyzed from various data points and business departments. Since the nature of fraud is continuously evolving, only an updated and centralized process can tackle the latest threats.
• Creation of an ethically viable long-term strategy and direction towards the accomplishment of organizational goals leading to long term sustainable growth.

Personal Benefit

After this Forensic Auditing and Accounting course, the attendees will benefit in the following ways:

• Recognize the concepts of fraud and corruption and how they affect departments and the governments.
• Evolve from just a compliance mentality to a strategic and up-to-date methodology of creating and implementing procedures in forensic auditing and accounting.
• Equip the investigator or the overseer with real-life analytical capabilities for reviewing metrics and data, to detect fraudulent practices and digressions from compliance.
• Honed foresight and knowledge to determine the best course of action in emergency situations entailing corporate fraud and control damage.
• Investigation techniques and tools required to support an investigation in a digital world.

Who should Attend?

• Directors, Board Members, Chief Financial Officers, and other members constituting the top management of an organization – to thoroughly understand critical aspects of corporate fraud, Forensic Auditing and Accounting.
• Auditors and Financial professionals responsible for ensuring transparency and integrity of processes and accounting records.
• Bookkeepers and Accountants who oversee maintaining the books of account and day to day financial transactions pursuing promotion.
• Shareholders and investors who are part of or want to be part of a firm’s delivery and function.
• Legal professionals responsible for and involved in preparing contracts and other legal notices and agreements to this effect.
• Risk managers and consultants providing services in forensic auditing and accounting domain.

Course Outline

The Forensic Auditing and Accounting course will comprise of the topics mentioned hereunder that are crucial aspects of Forensic Auditing and Accounting:

Introduction to Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination

• Fundamentals of accounting practices
• The essentials of forensic examination
• Responsibilities of accounting investigators and auditors
• The forensic accounting legal environment

Understanding Corporate Fraud

• Synopsis of white-collar crimes
• Overview of effective fraud investigation
• Types of corporate fraud
• Psychology of the fraudster profile
• The Fraud Triangle theory
• Implication of corporate fraud to internal and external stakeholders

Examination of Financial Statements and Analytical Techniques

• Scope and types of financial statement frauds
• Analysis of financial statements and audit reports
• Horizontal and vertical analysis
• Financial ratio analysis
• Anomaly detection to identify nonconformities.

The Fraud Investigation and Engagement Processes

• Techniques for recognizing the symptoms of fraudulent behavior
• Review of the investigation process and case initiation

Evidence collection techniques

• Gathering and Assessing Observational Evidence
• Gathering and Assessing Financial Evidence
• Gathering and Assessing Non-Financial Evidence

Data compilation and analysis

• Importing and Analyzing data utilizing MS Office tools
• Root cause analysis (RCA) of corporate fraud
• Understanding the analysis of data based on Newcomb-Bedford’s law.
• Overview of Data-driven Fraud Analysis Techniques
• Evaluating the extent and scope of fraudulent practices

Reporting of Findings and Analysis

• Auditor responsibility and reporting standards
• Forensic audit report template
• Risk assessment and reporting
• Business Valuation and Damages reporting

Fraud Prevention

• Examining the existing internal control environment
• Understanding the COSO Model (“Internal Control-Integrated Framework”)

Control Environment

Risk Assessment

Control Activities

Information and Communication

Monitoring

• In-depth review of COSO’s Fraud Risk Management Guide 2016
• Learning the ‘Evaluate – Identity – Deter – Respond’ cycle of managing corporate fraud.

Deterring Corporate Fraud

• Identifying organizational tolerance to risk and improvement of internal controls
• Formulating a critical fraud response strategy
• Developing an anti-fraud program

Effective Functioning within an organizational framework

• Aligning objectives and expectations with key decision-makers
• Effectively Communication of objectives to relevant personnel
• Cooperating with internal and external auditors
• Working alongside other legally trained departments such as compliance, legal and ethical committees.