Integrity of Pillars

Integrity of Pillars

Think of the pillars in your community.  Which ones stand out as being the most important?  Businessman, judges, politicians all have their place in the community with its own sphere of influence.  Do your pillars have integrity?  What about the integrity of handshake transactions being available to you.  What do handshake transactions sound like to you?  They are simply put transactions without contracts. They are your word.  In today's business world that does not sound like a secure arms length business transaction or a securely bound legal agreement.  There are companies out there that have the integrity to generate that trust. They complete every business transaction on a handshake only.  When is the last time you did business with one of your community pillars and relied on a handshake only?  What was the outcome?  It speaks of your pillars integrity if he or she does what they know they should do and you know it too.  If they fail that is a failure at the tone of the top in the community and is unhealthy.  Does this result in a leadership vacuum if no one responds to the problem?  It may corrupt and certainly cause that problem.  Be aware of what you can do for your community to keep a healthy tone at the top and keep leadership functional.

Modern Law and Reverse Mentoring

In my community, I have noticed ways to help.  One of the best ways to help your community is through volunteer work.  As a volunteer Associate for the ACFE in understand the importance of the people.  I am sworn to protect them from white collar crime and fraud because of my membership ethics requirements.  Thus, it is very rewarding to volunteer.  I cam across the concept of reverse mentoring not to long ago, which is pairing older employees with younger employees in it’s simplest form.  Although this mentoring primarily deals with trends, technology and social processes I think it can be used in volunteer work as well.  I have thought about the many different ways I can reverse mentor in my community as a volunteer Associate for the ACFE and found some delightful avenues.  One of them that is super cool is assisting the Justice Department with social media processes through technology in the time of modern laws.  One example that is beginning to unfold is the popularity of recreational consumption of cannabis in our country. The young are certainly adept at social media processes with technology and older generations trying to grasp the movement can have a blast on social media with the youth who can use wisdom coming down the ladder for thier future of safe and fun recreational use of cannabis.  I think by exercising this method that other ways to assist with reverse mentoring as a volunteer will become apparent to us all and we should implement them for the best benefits of our community!!  

Your Sneakers Part Two

Your Sneakers Part Two

When one is faced as an employer or whistleblower in the scenario in my first You Sneakers blog, one should not act with haste but should show care.  Try to remember that the people can benefit from your actions and they double duty as good PR.  One certainty is community impact based on actions you take to combat fraud.  We all live in a community with others so once again it is best for the people it is good for the community.  Perpetrators that commit fraud should be fired and administered by a judge.  This is important because the community does not need a perpetrator moving to the next target in the community and causing more damage.  Remember that there are peers in your community that have valuable insight and can be relied upon as pillars of the community.  This presents great networking opportunities for the future and when you are a network facilitator and engineer like I am, it is gravy.  Last but not least be aware that a community thrives with connections, good and bad.  Try to remember keep your eyes open for impairment of judgement for you and your networks behalf because even though Sarbanes Oxley covers accountancy, it’s ethics can save the day for everyone!!

Your Sneakers

A con artist is a person who cheats or tricks others by persuading them to believe something that is not true.  Con artists are bad news.  Especially when they are into business that is worse than lame snake oil.  I can think of some cons off the top of my head.  Deception is certainly one of the reasons why the problem sticks out.  Deception with a twist makes it more of an art for the perpetrator.  Let's take a fraud involving race tracking for example.  The bet this resolves around is tear off instant win tickets.  Let us think of the fraud triangle at this juncture.  Pressure, Opportunity and Realization are the elements of the triangle.  So, the administrator of the gaming tips off friends which bin the winning tickets are in.  He does not grant this intuition to common customers.  The inside scoop gives his friends a better chance to hit than the common customer.    Back to the fraud triangle.  The pressure is that the behavior is appealing because it puts me ahead of the rest of the crowd socially making me popular, which grants me psychological amenities that the others are deprived of.  The opportunity here is to please a friend for social and other types of behavior in a reward structure.  Realization is the justification of the corrupt action as permissible.  In this example, “it’s just being cool with my friend”, while this person would never purport to being a part of a fraud for god sakes man.  Please take away from this that a con is a fraud and con artists are people that are criminals. Do not let strangers act in your best interests and keep an eye on family and friends to make sure they are safe.

Stigmata

The stigma of whistleblowing hits hard.  As a young accountant in school I always knew that there were enormous responsibilities pertaining to the security of money.  I was not prepared to understand that this also included information.  Thejournal entries and financial statements were the substance of the field but with the passage of Sarbanes Oxley and it’s brainstorming requirement, secure information could drive the brainstorming in the right direction.  As far as my fraud studies go, I have read some books on the topic to learn that fraud not only hits hard at home, that it can come from the most unexpected sources.  Individuals that have been with a company for 3 years and are impeccable perpetrate frauds that bankrupt companies before it is too late.  That can mean a less favorable future for those in the small town that are employed by the company.  Now, everything has changed in the future for the family.  It hits home unpredictably in such a manner.  One reason anonymity in whistle blowing is so important is the ability to minimize stigma associated with the act of whistleblowing, making a more responsible and educated community along with security for a whistleblower that emerge as a whole effectively and in order.  So remember to say thanks to your fraud fighters in your community and give them your support because it is greatly appreciated and welcome.  

Further on the topic is the need to make sure whistle blowers have support.  Forfeiting a career, in my opinion is not an attractive result to blowing the whistle.  All this does is make the whistle blower more vulnerable by potentially placing them in poverty and open to attacks from groups that may be angry about the exposure of the crime in question.  So... if you are aware of a whistle blower that can use a hand, be a hero too and help them out.  They will appreciate it.

The Double F

The Double F

Fraud and fiduciary.  It takes a terrible toll on people and is like being blindsided.  When breaching a fiduciary agreement you breach a bond of trust.  Social fraud can be a excellent way to subordinate groups of individuals to cooperate with your fiduciary breach via group think, making the problem a community dilemma.  With social fraud, as stated in my last blog, it leads to a circumvention of internal controls.  This is subordination in it’s principle form and has it’s impact in the fiduciary breach by rotting everything to the core.  Back to the community in a dilemma.  Fiduciary problems in the community can upset delicate balances and become virile arguments that destroy lives and ruin reputations.  Rely on your communities support network to help guide you through any fallout and be on guard and remain vigilant for the signs that lead to corruption in the future!!

Let's Be Social!!

The social side of fraud.  Very prevalent and you are exposed to it.  Ever hear of group think? In High School you can call it a click.  Groups of individuals who all have their own perspective as to what reality is like or should be like.  Their influence can be powerful and shape lives, not for the best.  Functional bonds can be a manner in which social functions perpetrate.  The perpetrator(s) act lie predators and seek out other people to join be finding areas they can exploit that may solve peer pressure problems.  Organizational –function serving is a fraud that exists to increase the profitability of the company.  From a academic perspective, I have seen it with executive officers and board members shooting for stock bonuses or golden parachutes and they are perpetrating in order to achieve their goals to make themselves rich.  Affective bonds can cause terrible problems.  An example of it is the swindle that “this is for us”  and one party in the conversation is manipulated and expended in order for the perpetrator to accomplish his or her goal.  Awareness is the best prevention tool according to Murphy and Free (2007) and brainstorming can be a prevention method. Groups of individuals can become powerful and overcome internal controls and perpetrate, so be cautious with whom is selected for brainstorming in order to avoid the fraudsters from entrenching themselves once they find out any brainstorming plans. 

Murphey, Pamela R., Free, Clinton.  The Social side of Fraud: Collusion and Culture.  Fraud Magazine, 30(1), 64-68.