Susan Riley, Jill Sabourin and Karen Ovalle attended the annual 2017 Williamsburg Fraud Conference
Some of the presentations at the conference were:
“Prevention & Detection of Fraud in Small Business” – discussed the Fraud Triangle in detail, the importance of Perception of Detection and the effect of management’s tone at the top of the organization – which are relevant topics for all businesses
“Conflict Management Strategies for Improved Communication” addressed the need to check all sides of the issue before assuming you know the answer and also the importance of listening to hear and not listening to speak (How True is that?)
“Ethical Behavior – It’s a Matter of Choice” – went into detail on how certain things could be legal and permissible but not necessarily ethical
“Fraud, Money Laundering and More” – discussed the need to think like a Fraudster in setting up internal controls
And a fascinating presentation on how words in emails, journal entries and other supporting documents can be analyzed for risk assessment or possible fraud. Usually Auditors and Accounting folks only look at the numbers. Looking at text is something relatively new in this field.
This is a great local conference for our folks on the front line of the accounting process to attend since we are the ones to recommend and come up with new or revised internal controls.
