|
Every organization must be focused on preventing fraud and promoting ethical behavior. Management, boards of directors, and audit committees have a fiduciary duty to ensure that their organization has anti-fraud programs and controls in place to help prevent fraud, and aid in its discovery if it does occur. Unethical behavior by a company’s employees can result in substantial economic and reputational damages. Fraud prevention processes and ethics programs are designed to stop misbehavior before it occurs, eliminating the need for detection and remediation. In their 2010 Report to the Nations, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners identified the lack of internal controls as the number one reason fraud and corruption occurred, followed by the override of existing internal controls, and lack of management review.
OUR APPROACH
Implementing and monitoring effective fraud prevention and ethics programs requires a high level of expertise and experience. Our Business Advisory Services group has a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified Valuation Analyst, and two Certified Internal Controls Specialists on staff, in addition to a number of Certified Public Accountants. At Harding Shymanski & Company we also understand that this is not a “one size fits all” process. Our team will begin by learning about your organization, and then will identify weaknesses in your procedures and assist you in developing programs to deter fraud and unethical behavior, and help you detect them if they occur. Our goal is to provide our expertise as efficiently as possible, so you can continue to do what you do best – run your business.
We accomplish this goal by offering a variety of services, using what best fits your organization and situation:
- Fraud Risk Assessments -- Our trained and experienced staff can help you discover and minimize the risk in your organization to help you avoid becoming a victim of fraud through examining current procedures in place.
- Internal Control Assessments – Our team knows the right questions to ask and which processes to examine to help you determine whether or not your controls are operating as intended, if any controls are missing, and if the controls in place are achieving their desired intentions.
- Data Mining and Analysis – Accounting systems are capable of producing vast amounts of financial information to support cash disbursements and other financial results. Our experts are familiar with data analysis techniques and statistical models that can detect suspicious and potentially fictitious transactions.
- Corporate Governance Consulting – We educate board members and top management on what constitutes sufficient governance regarding their oversight of the financial reporting process, compliance with laws and regulations and risk management ,to protect their company and themselves. We also help implement best-in-class practices in the areas of Codes of Conduct, Ethics and Fraud Awareness Training, Whistleblower Hotlines, and Periodic Risk Assessments.
BENEFITS
There are many reasons that you benefit from our objective, knowledgeable approach:
- We use a value-sensitive method to implement effective prevention programs with the least investment.
|
- An investment made in the prevention of fraud and unethical behavior is most certainly returned many times over by the avoidance of fraud losses, lawsuits, or government actions for misbehaviors such as sexual harassment or bribery.
|
- Our solutions are customized to your business, your industry, and your situation.
|
- You will have a team of experts knowledgeable about your company should fraud or misbehavior be detected and an investigation is required.
|
- Cost-effective results can be achieved by utilizing our extensive data mining and transaction review experience.
|
 Contact us today to see how we can help you.
|
