Every two years the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner releases a study on fraud in their Report to the Nation. The 2018 report was recently released and I found the following facts to be very interesting.
- Over $7 billion in total losses. This number continues to increase.
- A majority of the victims recovered nothing. It’s best to make sure you’re not a victim in the first place.
- Small businesses (fewer than 100 employees) lost almost twice as much per scheme to fraud. I suppose this has to do with the lack of internal controls at smaller organizations. Also, we tend to think of employees as family and perhaps, they would never steal from you? Wrong.
- 85% of fraudsters displayed at least one behavioral red flag of fraud. The number one red flag – living beyond their means.
- Internal control weaknesses were responsible for nearly half of frauds. It’s less expensive to develop good internal controls then to lose money due to fraud. See numbers 3 and 4 above.
Do you need or want help developing good internal controls? Call our office and schedule an appointment with a Certified Fraud Examiner today.
By: Cynthia Scholen, CPA, CFE
Partner Onisko & Scholz, CPAs