Companies of all sizes are susceptible to employee fraud including embezzlements, thefts, and misappropriations of assets as well as Financial Reporting Fraud (FRF), also known as “cooking the books”, in order to show a rosy picture of the company so that it appears more attractive to investors than it really is. The 2016 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Report to the Nations reveals that the “typical organization loses 5% of revenues in a given year as a result of fraud, which exceeded $6.3 billion, with an average loss per case of $2.7 million”.

This can occur in situations where there are unexplained accounting anomalies, unusually rapid revenue or profit growth, weak internal controls, and aggressive financial actions by senior management, among other things. The existence and persistence of FRF has undermined the integrity and reliability of public financial information, eroded investor confidence, and has had detrimental effects on the safety, soundness, and efficiency of financial markets worldwide. The very viability of the business as well as the safety of financial markets in general are threatened when the existence and persistence of FRF go undetected.

Financial reporting fraud can be detected with effective corporate governance, which includes effective antifraud policies and programs by the board of directors, management, and auditors. Effective antifraud programs, —focusing on fraud awareness and education in the workplace environment, whistle-blowing policies and procedures of encouraging employees to report suspicious behavior without fear of reprisals, adequate internal control procedures designed to prevent and detect fraud, and conducting surprise audits—are all examples of actions that the board of directors, management, and other corporate gatekeepers can take to significantly reduce FRF.

Please join Zabihollah (Zabi) Rezaee, noted educator, author, and speaker as he discusses how antifraud policies, programs, and procedures should be designed to deter, prevent, and detect financial reporting fraud. Dr. Rezaee offers insights concerning the role of ethics and corporate governance in forensic accounting education and practice, including a discussion of corporate culture, control structure, and fraud procedures designed to detect financial reporting fraud before irreparable damage has been done.

Course Series

This course is included in the following series:

2 CoursesCorporate Governance

  1. Corporate Governance: Responsibilities of Corporate Gate Keepers
  2. Preventing and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud
Learning Objectives
  • Explore the significance of financial reporting fraud
  • Recognize the causes and consequences of financial reporting fraud
  • Identify the antifraud roles and practices of corporate gatekeepers including the board of directors, management, regulators, internal auditors, and external auditors
  • Discover the role of corporate culture, control structure, and antifraud procedures in preventing and detecting financial reporting fraud
  • Recognize the importance of forensic-related audit procedures and forensic accounting education/training
  • Explore the significance of corporate governance and ethics education/training
  • Explore the role of corporate culture, control structure, and antifraud procedures in preventing financial scandals
Last updated/reviewed: March 22, 2024
56 Reviews (232 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
In my opinion, though not widely accepted, fraud risk is very high and not less important than cyber risks. Great presentation.

4
Anonymous Author
Interesting and insightful. Having been in the internal controls industry for over a decade, I found that you never know who to expect! Sometimes it's the friendliest people that end up being the perpetrators (i.e. madoff) and other times it's the angry ones (those who ruin your reputation or fire you, because you ask too many questions). We're definitely seeing a loss in faith in the accounting profession and the more we allow complacency, the worse it will get.

4
Anonymous Author
The course presents a very good summary of the financial statements fraud. The slides are helpful however, the presenter should just have exclude those items that he ended up saying "he could not discuss further" such as in the section where he was explaining the type of person that will most likely commit fraud. The facilitator is very knowledgeable of the topic. This is a good course to all employees at any level in an organization.

4
Member's Profile
The course is great overall. It has well defined concepts. However, I believe Question 6 (What is the top audit deficiency in discovering financial statement fraud?) is worded incorrectly. It should read....What is NOT the top audit deficiency in discovering financial statement fraud?

5
Anonymous Author
This course provided a comprehensive overview of financial reporting fraud, including excellent supporting materials to reiterate key learnings. The segment on personality traits and behavioral changes was particularly interesting.

4
Member's Profile
Good summaries of concepts and good diagrams. I liked the expansion of the fraud triangle concept. Some contemporary case studies or news examples would have been helpful to break up the material and apply the concepts, though.

3
Anonymous Author
Instructor did not add as much in terms of examples and real world application to the presentation as I would have liked. The course does provide a good outline of preventing and detecting fraud throughout an organization.

5
Member's Profile
GOOD

5
Anonymous Author
Instructor did a great job teaching preventing and detecting financial reporting material. He is very knowledgeable and I appreciate that throughout his slides he had his video camera on. It helped keep me engaged.

5
Anonymous Author
The course was well designed and presented in a coherent manner. I would have appreciated some insight on financial reporting fraud in public institutions and not only the private ones.

5
Member's Profile
Fraudulent financial statements can be used to unjustifiably sell stock, obtain loans or efficiently prevent and detect financial statement fraud. That's what I think....

4
Anonymous Author
Very knowledgeable instructor with many years of experience. Appreciated the inclusion of strategies for every person involved as well as examples of risk factors.

5
Anonymous Author
It was a very interesting session from Zabi. A lot of information and a very good introduction to fraud prevention and detection. Thank you.

4
Member's Profile
Helpful information on financial reporting fraud, and provides insight on best practices in detection and prevention for an organization.

4
Member's Profile
I felt there was some unnecessary repetition; however, I was familiar with most of the material so that may have colored my viewpoint.

5
Anonymous Author
I enjoyed the part of the course that talked about the characteristics of someone who is committing fraud and what to look out for.

5
Member's Profile
Well-organized. I'm surprised what more I can learn about fraud. Good course for anyone teaching forensic accounting.

5
Anonymous Author
This course was easy to follow and entertaining. I feel like I came away with a better understanding of the topic.

4
Anonymous Author
Very good course on fraud and how it is reported. The instructor went in to good detail. Very informative.

4
Member's Profile
A good comprehensive course on FRF. The course covers a lot of material and is illustrated very well.

4
Anonymous Author
This is a refreshing course. Nothing surprised me. This training will be most beneficial to beginners.

4
Member's Profile
This course and the contents is simple and easy to understand. The final questionnaire is quite easy.

4
Anonymous Author
Great insights on fraud, and fraud detection particularly on the financial statements fraud.

5
Anonymous Author
liked it. very much relevant in today's scenario. i recommend CMA professionals to take it.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course of preventing and detecting financial rporting fraud which added value to me.

5
Anonymous Author
Very informative and interesting. I learned quite a bit and will share with my colleagues.

5
Member's Profile
An overview of preventing and detecting financial reporting fraud symptoms and detections.

3
Anonymous Author
good enough to help me get my cpe for my cia and cpa licenses that i need to report for

5
Anonymous Author
A very good course on the fundamentals of internal controls and financial statements

5
Anonymous Author
the minimum character review should not be required. Please remove. Highest regards.

5
Anonymous Author
Very useful and meaningful course. Highly recommended to be taken by professionals.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course which gave high level overview of fraud prevention. Highly recommend.

4
Anonymous Author
The material is very easy to follow and very easy to reference when necessary.

5
Member's Profile
This was a great webinar. It contained alot of useful information. Thanks.

5
Anonymous Author
Good class and a topic that all internal managers should be familiar with.

5
Member's Profile
The instructor was clear and concise. The content was easy to understand.

5
Anonymous Author
Great review for experienced auditors and great information for new ones.

4
Member's Profile
Good Course. I recommend all users to go through this wonderful session.

Anonymous Author
This is an good presentation with a lot of information and explanations.

5
Anonymous Author
Very informative and eductional. Thank you for sharing this information.

5
Anonymous Author
Preventing and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud is a good course.

3
Member's Profile
nice discussion about role of management and steps to reduce frud

3
Member's Profile
The course was useful. The test questions were not entirely clear.

4
Member's Profile
Decent coverage of various topics in an easy-to-understand manner.

5
Anonymous Author
great class with a lot of good information. I enjoyed the class

4
Member's Profile
Good overview of fraud as it relates to financial reporting.

4
Anonymous Author
Always good to get a refresher around fraud in the workplace

4
Anonymous Author
Presenter was knowledgeable and course content appropriate.

4
Member's Profile
Very helpful particularly related to the fraud procedures.

5
Anonymous Author
Very Good Content - The presenter was very knowledgeable

4
Anonymous Author
great course, nice refresher on financial reporting fraud

4
Member's Profile
Great refresher on preventing and detecting fraud.

5
Anonymous Author
Interesting presentation.

4
Member's Profile
Great Presentation

5
Member's Profile
Good information

4
Anonymous Author
Great course.

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Intermediate

No Advanced Preparation or Prerequisites are needed for this course, but completion of the other courses in this series will be helpful.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Prevention and Detection
  Definition of Fraud15:45
  Cost of Fraud9:55
  Cost of Fraud (Continued) 14:16
  Forensic Accounting 6:33
  Elements of Fraud10:47
  Elements of Fraud (Continued)11:41
  Fraud Symptoms 10:37
  Fraud Detection 11:11
  Fraud Detection (Continued)9:19
  Forensic Audit Procedures 12:00
  Prevention, Detection, Correction of FSF12:15
CONCLUSION
  Course Conclusion 5:29
Continuous Play
  Preventing and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud 2:11:20
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
  Slides: Preventing and Detecting Financial Reporting FraudPDF
  Preventing and Detecting Financial Reporting Fraud Glossary/IndexPDF
REVIEW and TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam