Pursuit Magazine‘s coverage of the ACFE 24th Annual Fraud Conference in Las Vegas, NV—brought to you by executive editor Thomas H. Humphreys, CFE
Day two of the ACFE Fraud Conference was a long one. Chris Mathers entertained the entire roster of 2,600+ fraud fighters with war stories over breakfast. There wasn’t a huge takeaway, just an entertaining series of true stories from the world of corporate intelligence. One quote that made 2,600 people laugh out loud: “It’s not a bribe. It’s a ‘facilitation payment.’”
I sat in on a couple of sessions that I found incredibly useful. Tiffany Couch, CFE, CPA, CFF offered an information-packed presentation on financial statement fraud. With banks making it increasingly more difficult to obtain loans—via regulations, requirements, and onerous paperwork—there seems to be a concurrent increase in “book cooking.” She covered many methods for detecting the most common financial statement fraud schemes. If you’re an internal auditor or work in underwriting at a bank, it would behoove you to find this presentation online.
Cynthia Hetherington gave her usual outstanding performance. I love the way she takes questions: She posts her cell number at the beginning of class and asks the students to text her questions—a great idea.
Ms. Hetherington always shares a few new tidbits for scouring the net for information. She offers classes nationwide through her company, the Hetherington Group. If you get a chance, attend one. Eli Rosenblatt, one of Pursuit Magazine’s contributors, had this to tweet about Ms. Hetherington: “@hetheringtongrp Cynthia kicking down about culling user details from various #socialmedia sources #fraudconf”
The most useful moment for me, hands down, was the Tuesday night networking event—a poolside cocktail party hosted by the ACFE. Classy enough to feel grown up, casual enough to facilitate conversation. Last night, we sipped spiked lemonade and spent some quality time with our fraud-busting friends. Brian Willingham, Eli Rosenblatt, Karyn Spencer and I plotted and schemed about our presentation for next year’s conference.
Today, Pursuit Magazine contributor, Brian Willingham, CFE, is presenting on public records for investigators. Looking very much forward to that.
More soon.
—THH