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Fraud & Business Ethics Resources |
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Fraud, theft, and embezzlement have always been a fact of life, but information technology has created many new ways to commit fraud. At the same time, online ways of doing business have created new ethical dilemmas. KnowledgeLeader provides policies, tools, articles, and other resources to help you:
- Develop ethics and fraud checklists, policies, and procedures;
- Understand current fraudulent activities;
- Discover best practices to combat fraud;
- Improve ethical standards in all business areas.
Ethics and fraud thought leaders share their techniques and approaches through articles providing ideas, best practices, and actionable advice. Many of these offer suggestions and advice from industry leaders regarding ethics and fraud. Select one of the areas below to view a sample of ethics and fraud information available on KnowledgeLeader.
Tools
Business Ethics Questionnaire
This business ethics questionnaire is designed to help risk management professionals to determine how well their companies are addressing risks in this area and bringing awareness to ethics programs. The questionnaire is applicable to all organizations looking to glean creative insights into best practices related to business ethics.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethical Guidelines Policy
The purpose of this policy is to help employees understand the values and beliefs of an organization to help prevent business fraud. Topics covered include: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, employment practices, antitrust compliance, and ethics hotlines.
The Code of Conduct – Laying a Cornerstone for Effective Governance – Questionnaire
If there is one constant for success in a rapidly changing global marketplace, it is the immutable bedrock of an unwavering commitment to ethical and responsible business behavior. This document discusses important questions for boards and management to consider when designing and implementing an effective code of ethics to help prevent business fraud.
Electronic Discovery: An Academic Exercise or Your Next Crisis? – Questionnaire
Electronic discovery (or e-discovery) refers to the process by which relevant electronically stored information is produced as evidence when an organization faces legal or regulatory action. This document poses questions for the board and management to reduce the costs, burden and time associated with e-discovery.
Entity-Level Controls – Fraud Questionnaire
Preventing business fraud is essential to set the right tone for an effective internal control framework. This excel-based template links the COSO components to a number of control objectives for entity-level fraud controls. Within the questionnaire you can document items such as whether the control exists; whether it was designed properly; related test procedures; and the management action plan for deficiencies.
Ethical Business Conduct Guidelines Audit Work Program
The purpose of this work program is to provide the general steps used to perform an audit of ethical business conduct guidelines. This document provides guidance on obtaining a list of all executives and directors, determining who is required to sign an ethical business conduct form, obtain access to employees’ human resource files, and other steps needed to complete this audit.
Ethics Audit Checklist
This checklist contains a set of questions that can be used when performing a governance and ethics audit. Topics include: policies and procedures, communication, training, change management, violations, penalties and enforcement.
Fraud Policy
This policy describes a broad range of actions that constitute as business fraud and that must be reported. The conditions of this policy apply to any irregularity, or suspected irregularity, involving not only employees but also shareholders, vendors and outside agencies. This policy addresses investigation responsibility, confidentiality, and reporting procedure.
Fraud Response Policy
This sample fraud policy outlines the company's principles with respect to maintaining a fraud free environment, details procedures for employees to report suspected fraud and describes actions to be taken by the company.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Related Business Practices Policy
This sample outlines a set of policies and procedures for dealing with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and related business practices. It is the company's policy to comply with FCPA in every aspect. Each officer, manager, and employee of the company has the responsibility for compliance with the FCPA within their area of authority.
Insider Trading Policy
This sample outlines a set of policies and procedures for insider trading. All insider trading transactions must comply with these procedures in order to comply with securities laws as defined by the Security Exchange Commission.
Internet Usage Policy
This sample policy defines the conditions under which an employee, contractor, vendor or other person may access and use the Internet via a company’s private network, in order to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate, unethical, or unlawful behavior by any users.
Protecting Enterprise Value Through Your Anti-Fraud Program – Questionnaire
A company’s anti-fraud program is an integral part of its corporate governance process and is fundamental to protecting tangible and intangible enterprise value and preserving the reliability of public reporting. This document focuses on key questions for board members and management when evaluating the anti-fraud program. It can be used in conjunction with a business ethics questionnaire.
Quarterly Compliance Assessment – Audit Report
This sample includes an internal audit quarterly assessment of a financial services company’s compliance policies and procedures. In this report, internal audit validates the operational effectiveness of key activities and controls within these policies and procedures. This assessment focuses on policies and procedures relating to anti-money laundering, whistleblower hotlines, custody, insurance, and code of business ethics.
Publications
Bribery Bill: The Impact on U.K. Business
In March 2009, the U.K. government published a draft Bribery Bill which places greater accountability on individuals and corporations registered or carrying out business in the U.K. to prevent bribery by their employees or agents. The bill is expected to be enacted during 2010.The information in this article is based on the Bribery Bill as it currently stands. Issues related to corporate hospitality, facilitation payments and offset arrangements have been raised by the industry, and such activities will be limited by the “improper performance” test and subject to prosecutorial discretion. Read this article and others for more information on governance and ethics.
Corruption Risk – Playing by the Rules in a Global Market
In this episode of Powerful Insights, Protiviti Director Pamela Verick discusses the many facets of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law with which every U.S. organization and those with U.S.-listed securities must comply. This Act is important to monitoring fraud and ethics within an organization.
Fraud Risk Assessment – Identifying Vulnerabilities to Fraud and Misconduct
Managing the risk of fraud and misconduct is a growing concern in today’s business environment. High-profile fraud schemes, public expectations for companies to manage their fraud risks and increased enforcement of regulatory requirements worldwide have heightened the need to identify and address these risks. To understand its particular fraud risks and enable it to manage them effectively, a company can benefit from planning and executing a structured fraud risk assessment. In this episode, Pamela Verick, a Director with Protiviti’s Litigation, Restructuring and Investigative Services practice and leader of the firm’s Fraud Risk Management Services group, discusses how organizations can conduct effective fraud risk assessments.
Fraud Risk Management: Safeguarding Your Reputation and Well-Being in Today’s Economic Climate
Fraud risk management is crucial to an organization’s reputation and economic well-being. While recent industry data indicate that organizations lose approximately 7 percent of annual revenues to fraud, the true cost is likely much more, as effects ripple across financial statements, operations and brand value. In this podcast, Pamela Verick, a Director with Protiviti’s Litigation, Restructuring and Investigative Services practice and leader of the firm’s Fraud Risk Management Services group, discusses the key elements of an effective fraud risk management program.
Global Technology Audit Guide (GTAG) 13: Fraud Prevention and Detection in an Automated World
As technology advances, so do schemes to commit fraud. Therefore, technology can be used not only to perpetrate fraud, but also to prevent and detect it. Using technology to implement real-time fraud prevention and detection programs will enable organizations to reduce the cost of fraud by lessening the time from which a fraud is committed to the time it is detected. Considering this, it is crucial that auditors stay ahead of fraud and ethics in their knowledge of technology and available tools. This GTAG focuses on IT-related fraud risks and risk assessments and how the use of technology can help internal auditors and other key stakeholders within the organization address fraud and fraud risks.
Landmark Case Could Be a Game Changer: E-discovery is No Longer Just a Legal Issue
Last month, a court order laid down criteria for evaluating discovery conduct that potentially impacts the risk profile of every company involved in U.S. litigation. For C-level executives that have had difficulty staying with the e-discovery conversation in the past, now is the time to pay attention. Given the potential impact to the risk profile of organizations involved in U.S. litigation, the objective of issuing this Flash Report is to supplement and highlight the legal analyses with the business message to help executives outside of the legal department understand what this ruling really means from a nonlegal point-of-view. Read this article and others for more information on governance and ethics.
Staying Out of the Headlines: Strategies to Combat Corruption Risk
In an effort to identify frequently recurring areas of FCPA risk for companies that conduct business in foreign markets, Protiviti undertook a systematic review of publicly available information regarding 286 criminal and civil cases and settlements announced by the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC from 1986 to March 2010. The information gleaned can help company managers and directors to understand better which activities may attract the attention of federal regulators and law enforcement–and may help enhance the monitoring of corruption risk in hot spots around the world.
There must be Thirty Ways to Steal Your ID
Identity theft has been going on for ages, but the internet has created the opportunity for growth. Identity theft is a modern fraud and ethics issue. This article outlines some thirty ways that fraudsters commonly commit identity theft and exploit stolen identities, with detailed information on phishing using actual phishing e-mails to illustrate the techniques.
U.K. Bribery Act: Important Implications to Doing Business in the United Kingdom
Last month, the U.K. Parliament passed the country's first major overhaul of its anti-corruption laws in more than a century, putting companies operating in the United Kingdom under very stringent anti-corruption regulation and going even further than the requirements set down by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States. This so-called Bribery Act introduces a new offense that makes corporations operating in the United Kingdom automatically liable for bribes paid on their behalf. This Flash Report provides an overview of the provisions of the Act as well as recommendations as to what companies should do to respond. Read this article and others for more information on governance and ethics.
External Resources
KnowledgeLeader features descriptions of, and links to, many of the most useful business ethics and fraud related sites on the web, including:
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is a professional organization representing individuals trained in the highly specialized aspects of detecting, investigating, and deterring fraud and white-collar crime. This site features membership information, certification requirements, abstracts of white papers, and a publications catalog.
Business for Social Responsibility
The BSR Resources section offers a collection of research, investigative tools and practical guidelines on responsible business practices. White paper topics include business ethics, the environment, and human rights.
Center for Public Integrity
The mission of the Center is to provide the American people with the findings of investigations and analyses of public service, government accountability and ethics related issues.
Ethicsweb
This website provides an avenue to several articles and guides on ethics for various industries.
FBI's Cyber Crime Squad
The FBI's Cyber Crime Squad leads the national effort to investigate high-tech crimes, including cyber-based terrorism, computer intrusions, online sexual exploitation, and major cyber frauds. To stay in front of emerging trends, we gather and share information and intelligence with public and private sector partners worldwide.
FraudInfo.com
FraudInfo.com is the leading consumer, business, and professional resource on the Internet for detecting, reporting, and preventing fraud and white-collar crime.
The Institute for Business and Professional Ethics
The Institute for Business & Professional Ethics is a joint effort of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Commerce at DePaul University.
International Business Ethics Institute
The Institute promotes corporate responsibility through two key program areas. First, it works to increase public awareness and dialogue about international business ethics issues through such educational resources and activities as the Roundtable Discussion Series, the International Business Ethics Review (a quarterly publication), and the Institutes multilingual Web site. Second, the Institute works closely with companies to assist them in establishing effective international ethics programs. The Institute is dedicated to disseminating business-ethics information to demonstrate the positive, tangible changes that responsible business can generate.
Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 gives the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of suspected criminal or civil violations. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the federal, state, local and international level, IC3 provides a central referral mechanism for complaints involving Internet related crimes.
National Fraud Information Center (NFIC)
The NFIC was originally established in 1992 by the National Consumers League, the oldest nonprofit consumer organization in the United States, to fight the growing menace of telemarketing fraud by improving prevention and enforcement.
Open Compliance & Ethics Group (OCEG)
The Open Compliance & Ethics Group (OCEG) is a coalition of the nation's business leaders assembled to develop compliance standards and guidelines. These standards are designed to optimize the proactive education of organizational directors, officers, and employees to reduce risk, fraud, and malfeasance, and to restore the public's confidence and faith in the corporate world. Importantly, OCEG outlines standards and guidelines that reflect both the "spirit" and the "letter" of the laws, rules, and regulations.
Transparency International
Transparency International (TI) is a leading international non-governmental organization devoted to combating corruption. Through its International Secretariat in Berlin and its more than 85 independent National Chapters around the world, TI works at both the international and national level to curb the supply and demand of corrupt practices.
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