ACFE Washington Metro Chapter
ISSA Northern Virginia Chapter
Forensic Analytics to Detect Employee Fraud, Insider Cyber Threats, Professional Ethics, & Using ChatGPT to Raise Productivity
Date: May 15, 2024 (Wednesday; 8:00 to 3:00 PM EDT)
Location: 1801 K St. NW Washington, DC 20036 (KPMG Conference Rooms)
Breakfast and Lunch included; Up to 6 NASBA CPE (including 2 Ethics CPE)
Cost:
- $150 for ACFE DC and ISSA NOVA Chapter Members (Chapter membership is separate from ACFE Global membership)
- $205 for non-ACFE DC Chapter members.
Agenda:
Note: Doors will not open until 8:00 AM.
8:00 – 8:30 AM: Breakfast provided and Introductions
8:30 – 11:30 AM: Forensic Analytics to Detect Employee Fraud & Insider Cyber Threats
11:30 – 12:00 PM: Lunch provided
12:00 – 1:00 PM: Leveraging AI & ChatGPT for Improved Productivity in Fraud Examination & Internal Auditing
1:00 – 3:00 PM: Ethical Lapses, Detecting Ethical Lapses, and an Interactive Session
Morning Session (Forensic Analytics to Detect Employee Fraud & Insider Cyber Threats)
This informative, engaging, and entertaining presentation reviews the fingerprints of fraud numbers. Fraudsters must invent a series of dollar amounts to carry out their schemes. My research, using court records and other published documents, shows that the dollar amounts used by fraudsters are (a) round, (b) show strong period-over-period growth, (c) just above or below control thresholds, (d) excessively rounded up or down, (e) deviate from Benford’s Law, (f) are purposeful duplicates of actual transactions, and (g) are outliers.
We will review these fingerprints using informative and exciting examples. Recent examples include the fraud scheme of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, the $22,221,454.40 purchasing card fraud scheme of the controller of the Jacksonville Jaguars (an NFL team), and the hidden meanings and other patterns in amounts linked to Elon Musk. Attendees will receive a free Excel file that tests for conformity to Benford’s Law. This session will introduce a new analytical procedure developed by the author that quantifies when a change in a trial balance or a tax return is “large.”
Insider threat programs aim to reduce the risks of embezzlement, espionage, loss of strategic assets, sabotage, and physical violence. Organizations know that they need to turn off the access credentials of former employees. Still, not much is known about what employees who directly or indirectly had access credentials after their termination have done. We will review selected cases where an employee’s endpoint access was not disabled before an attack could be launched. In some cases, there was an economic gain to the employee, but most were sabotage and vandalism motivated by revenge. The sabotage was made possible by exploiting some lapse in system controls, namely “backdoor” access. We will conclude with some best practices for involuntary terminations and suggestions for prevention.
Afternoon Sessions
Leveraging AI & ChatGPT for Improved Productivity in Fraud Examination & Internal Auditing
We will explore applications of AI and ChatGPT in the realm of fraud examination and auditing. The tools can be used immediately in professional settings. We will start with an overview of where and how AI technology is used. We will then look at how AI can help interpret complex data sets, identify patterns indicative of fraudulent activity, and provide predictive insights. Other applications include automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as report generation and document summarization. The Professional Ethics session will cover the ethical implications of using AI in auditing and fraud examinations. Time permitting, we’ll finish up with an interactive question-and-answer session where attendees can discuss specific concerns, share experiences, and seek advice on implementing AI solutions at work.
Professional Ethics: Ethical Lapses, Detecting Ethical Lapses, and an Interactive Session (2 hours)
This interesting professional ethics session will review ethical lapses in business and government, lessons learned, and analytics tests that could detect such lapses. Examples will include lapses in the C-suite, lapses in labor unions, lapses related to insider trades, lapses in banking, lapses in cybersecurity, and lapses by attorneys. We will also review computer-based tests designed to detect lapses and some hefty penalties imposed when regulators detect such lapses.
To conclude, we will have an interactive session with interesting regulatory and behavioral ethics questions. The questions will be displayed on the screen, and the answers and a brief discussion will follow. Attendees can keep track of their scores.
Presenter:
Mark J. Nigrini is on the faculty at West Virginia University. For many years, his research passion has been a phenomenon known as Benford’s Law, which has proved valuable to auditors in their quest to uncover fraud in corporate data. His current research addresses advanced work on Benford’s Law, employee fraud, the use of analytics in forensic accounting, and insider threats.
He is the author of Forensic Analytics, which describes analytic tests used to detect fraud, errors, estimates, and biases in financial data, as well as Benford's Law. In 2014, he published an article in the Journal of Accountancy, co-authored with Nathan Mueller, a fraudster incarcerated in a federal prison. That article won the Lawler Award for the best article in 2014. His work has been featured in The Financial Times, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and he has published articles on Benford’s Law in academic journals and professional publications. These journals include the Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research. His radio interviews have included the BBC in London and NPR in the U.S. His television interviews have included an interview for the Evil Twins series for the Investigation Discovery Channel. He is a regular presenter at the Global Conferences and regularly presents professional workshops for accountants and auditors.
Field of Study: 4 CPEs on Specialized Knowledge (Fraud-Related); 2 CPEs on Ethics
Prerequisites: None
Advanced Preparation: None
Program Level: Basic
Delivery Method: Group Live
Cancelation Policy:
Full refunds are available anytime when requested prior to 3 days of the event. No refunds will be made for “No Shows” (a “No Show” is a person who registers for a program but who does not cancel registration or attend the program). A registered person may elect to transfer the registration to another person at any time. Cancellations can be made only by email at chapter@acfedc.org. Payments can be electronically made any time prior to the event start. Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate "pay at the door" or payment by checks or cash.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) is the world's largest anti-fraud organization with nearly 85,000 members with the mission of reducing incidence of fraud and white-collar crime. The ACFE Washington Metropolitan Chapter aims to promote fraud detection and deterrence through educational training programs in the National Capital Region.
For additional information regarding Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), please visit http://www.acfe.com.