• Fraud by Top Executives

    It’s easy to assume that upper-level executives in companies with fraud scandals were always bad people. By assuming that they were inherently bad people, we don’t have to confront the issues related to trusting people who seemed trustworthy. We don’t […]

  • Financial Statement Fraud Red Flags

    Tracy Coenen teaches a group about some of the most common red flags of financial statement fraud. More information on corporate fraud is available in Tracy’s book, Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

  • 4 Legal Elements of Fraud

    Tracy talks about the definition of fraud, and the four legal elements that are generally required. Laws vary from state to state, so you can see some variation here, but this is the “textbook” definition. The elements of fraud include: […]

  • Red Flags of Divorce Fraud

    The vast majority of family law cases are settled without trials. However, a client should not enter into a voluntary settlement if there are significant concerns about the truth of the financial disclosures and indications that assets or income may […]

  • Forensic Accounting for Construction Claims

    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 […]

  • Investigating Cases With Large Volumes of Financial Data

    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 […]

  • Clues to a Company Being Ripped Off

    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 […]

  • Finding Hidden Business Income in a Divorce Case

    When a divorce or a child support issue is looming, it’s amazing how a quickly a closely held business starts “losing money.” I use quotes because such a situation is so predictable. One party wants to protect her or his […]

  • Do-It-Yourself Divorce Financial Analysis

    Lots of people have concerns about their finances when they’re getting divorced. If you weren’t actively involved in managing your family’s finances, you might be suspicious about how the money was spent or whether there are any hidden bank accounts […]

  • Don’t Try a Do-It-Yourself Fraud Investigation

    When a business owner or executive encounters proof of a fraud-in-progress, a natural reaction is often to immediately begin investigating. After all, someone has to get to the bottom of the situation. Yet that’s not usually the best way to […]