Fraud: Can We Prevent It?

I may be starting an assignment shortly, working with a developer who has established a group of ambulatory clinical services. One of the concerns I raised with him in an initial interview was the limited amount of financial staff he employed. While he has great confidence in the honesty of the people he employs, I pointed out internal controls are generally weak when a single individual has responsibility for multiple aspects of cash receipts, disbursements and financial reporting. I found an interesting post on a blog called Forensic Accounting Today, written by Jeff Moore of Atlanta, GA. The post, Preventing Fraud in the Workplace, lists ten anti-fraud suggestions and has links to "the Fraud Triangle", "a fraud policy", "the fraud tree" and "red flags of fraud."

Interesting stuff, and the more you read, the more likely you are to be sensitive to the risks of fraudulent activity. I plan to use Jeff's suggestions as I educate my new client.