Forensics & fraud blog

We published an article in the November 2011 edition of the newsletter of the Association of International Arbitration .

The Association for International Arbitration (AIA) works towards the promotion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR). AIA focuses on arbitration as a means of dispute resolution and strives to bring together the global community in this field, including judges, lawyers, arbitrators, mediators and academics as well research scholars and students.

Our article provides a short summary of our global expertise in the field of arbitration, alternative dispute resolution and dispute resolution support.

You can find the November 2011 issue of the newsletter here.

With information in mountain stacks of paper files coupled with financial records, electronic media, instant messaging, tweets and blogs are you able to locate specific information to support an inquiry?
Is the greater challenge in finding it or in missing it all together?

Suspected rogue trader held at UBS – Business News, Business – The Independent

An unfortunate example of what could go wrong when risk management procedures are inadequate.  And not the first one either, like the article says:

• Jerome Kerviel at Soc Gen (£3.7 billion),
• Nick Leeson at Barings (£800 million),
• Yasuo Hamanaka as a copper trader (£2.4 billion).

Besides the financial cost to the organisations, reputations are at stake and they can take a long time to repair.

Let’s not forget, someone has to figure out exactly what happened here and how it was possible that it happened.

Participate in the Global Economic Crime Survey 2011: www.pwc.com/crimesurvey/questionnaire

A worldwide study into the impact of fraud on business to help industry leaders understand and confront these issues.

More info on www.pwc.com/gx/en/economic-crime-survey

Not a week or a day passed by without a reference to fraud in the media. No matter the country, the size or the sector of the organisation, fraud unfortunately does not only happen to others.

The Forensic Auditor in the fight against economic crime, a full-time job!

A little-known job and often misunderstood by the public is the one of “Forensic Auditor”. Although this profession is much more developed in the Anglo-Saxon countries, it also exists in Belgium and requires combining legal, IT, financial and economic expertise.

There is no standardised approach; each project must be tailored to the needs of the organization and to its industry. When fraud is uncovered, the first concerns have a legal, social and financial character. The Forensic Auditor assists companies in managing their fraud risks (through prevention, detection or investigation).

“Zero risk” does not exist but it is key to prevent and detect potential fraud. The key behaviour is to anticipate and act proactively to fraud risks.

We have created this blog as a forum to share views and knowledge and also to stimulate debate.

You will see a range of views expressed from different experts in PwC about various fraud related topics such as fraud, corruption, software license infringements, or business ethics issues.  Some of the blog entries will be about providing information to you, in others we may be asking for your views.  You will be able to respond directly to the author if you wish to do so. Please note that members’ responses will be published on the blog.