• Employee fraud always has a “cause.” The “cause” is the motive, desire, or need that is being filled by the theft from one’s employer. A need doesn’t have to be a true need in order for fraud to occur, but […]

  • Tracy Coenen talks about the prevalence of fraud allegations related to construction projects and the work a forensic accountant can do in construction claims. She goes through the basics of the financial analysis performed on the numbers and documents related […]

  • Perpetrators of fraud have plenty of schemes to choose from when cooking up their crimes. The fraud schemes range from petty theft by lower-level employees, all the way up to management cooking up stellar financial statements to dupe investors and […]

  • Trust is inherent in any good business. We continuously place trust in our employees and in those with whom we do business. But that trust which is so necessary to the operation of a business is also the impetus for […]

  • Many of the cases I work currently focus on the tracing of funds through multiple bank, brokerage, and credit card accounts. I am typically working with tens of thousands of transactions at a time, so the sheer volume of the […]

  • The dreaded expense reports. Employees hate preparing them. Companies hate reviewing them. They seem to be painful for everyone involved, yet companies can’t get away from them all together. You’re asking yourself why this might be an important topic. Expense […]

  • Tracy Coenen explains what a Ponzi scheme is: a specific type of investment scheme in which the perpetrator recruits investors and then pays their “investment returns” with money from new investors.

  • How would you know if your company was being ripped off by a dishonest employee? Most companies miss all of the warning signs that could help stop a fraud early. Studies suggest that the average fraud scheme within a company […]

  • Some companies think they are protected against employee fraud because they have strong internal controls. Often, that’s the case. Good controls mean the rules are followed and the money is properly accounted for. Sometimes, however, good controls are meaningless. What […]

  • Testifying is the pinnacle of an expert witness’s work in a case. It may well be the most important part of the expert’s work, as the assistance of a competent financial expert is the key to cases involving economic damages […]