Skip to content
Thursday, Jul 7, 2022
Insolvency Insolvency

Baldwin And Co

July 6, 2022

How Wall Street Escaped the Crypto Meltdown

July 5, 2022

Apple’s Entry-Level M2 MacBook Pro Turns Into a Celeron Under Heavy Load

July 5, 2022

126 Startups Pitched Their Concepts At EPiC In Hong Kong, However Only one Walked Away

Primary Menu
  • Personal Account
  • Cpa Vs Accountant
  • Tax Accountants
  • Accountants Expertise
  • Personal Finances
  • Business Account
  • About Us
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Sitemap
  • Home
  • 3 Business Lessons From A Forensic Accountant
Business Account

3 Business Lessons From A Forensic Accountant

June 22, 2022
Insolvency Insolvency
Read Time : 7 Minutes


Danielle Supkis Cheek CPA, CFE, CVA is a VP at MindBridge and is a 4-time U.S. Most Powerful Women in Accounting.

getty

When people hear that I am a CPA, they ask me tax questions; however, when I say I am a forensic accountant, people assume I live life like a TV crime show. Of course, the truth lies somewhere in between. What people don’t realize about forensic accountants is the breadth of experiences we observe of organizational and human behavior in some of the hardest situations for companies or people to find themselves in. It gives you a different perspective that can have great implications on your approach to business.

Related Posts:

  • 3 Questions to Ask Yourself to Find the Right Accountant

Here are the top three business lessons I have learned from my work as a forensic accountant.

1. Do not think you are immune to committing fraud.

The most basic model of fraud is called the fraud triangle, coined by Dr. Donald Cressey. The model hypothesizes that where there is (1) pressure, (2) opportunity and (3) rationalization, you are a higher risk for fraudulent behavior.

I tend to not trust people who tell me they would never commit fraud. When I hear this comment, I translate it as a lack of self-awareness of the pressure that can be exerted on them to make them change their behavior. I, like most people, believe I am a highly ethical person; however, I see many situations wherein, due to one’s family being in duress, people act contrary to their normal behavior in order to protect their family.

I also realize that I could rationalize this as the only option to protect my family and tell myself that once whatever imminent danger was over, I would be able to assist in righting the wrong I had committed.

That’s the reason when I am consulting with a business, I look to take away such opportunities by designing processes and controls. I also believe that eliminating opportunities for fraud helps protect people from ever being forced into such an impossible dilemma.

2. Suspend judgement.

Since I can imagine a horrible situation in which a person can feel forced into committing a fraud, when I am doing investigation, I go to great lengths to remove as many personal biases as possible and operate as neutrally with each party as I can. To the greatest extent possible, I also put myself in each party’s shoes to attempt to look at a situation or circumstance from their point of view.

It is very easy to let your mind jump to judgement over an action, When I see myself do this, I ask myself: Why would that person act in that way? I start to come up with as many logical stories or reasons that would make sense for that person to act in that way. By the time I have come up with a couple of reasons, I am no longer making a judgment on the action, but see it as a response to a variety of circumstances. And now can form a hypothesis to investigate.

Forensic accountants are also trained that they cannot themselves deem an action to be fraud or not, as that is for a trier of fact (i.e., judge or jury) to determine.

In business, this mindset allows me to see someone else’s point of view very quickly. The fact that I have done it many times allows me to better anticipate outcomes. I am also usually able to collect more data more quickly than others, which has improved my quick decision-making capabilities.

3. Pay attention to everything.

Many people conflate the concepts of perfectionism with someone who simply has a high attention to detail. I have a very high attention to detail, but I am quick to let things go out when they are good enough. Many times, there is not enough marginal value for the cost to get a better-quality output. This is the concept of the law of diminishing marginal returns or cost-benefit analysis.

In forensic accounting, you will see a lot of details all the time and it is hard to synthesize all the information coming at you. However, when I am working on a matter, I am paying attention to everything that I can.

I once recognized the name on the notary stamp on a key document that I only got to see for a split second. That ended up being very material to the matter I was working on. When I visit facilities, I am looking at how it is organized, whether there are spiderwebs, what it smells like, how dusty it is, etc. All of the details may seem mostly meaningless as I am collecting them, but once I get to some other record or fact, I may use all those details to see what does and does not make sense.

In business, I get accused of doing too many things or lacking focus. The irony is that what I am doing is highly focused. I am doing a lot of things as I get everything to be good enough and then move on to the next item. Then, due to the breadth of what I have access to through my work, my “good enough” ends up being more well-informed than others who might put in more effort on a single task.

The trick in being high in attention to detail and getting everything good enough to move on is determining what is the bar for good enough. Since I also work as a professor and most people have familiarity with grading scales, I use a C+ to A+ range to talk about the quality of the end product. For most of my work, I am targeting to a solid B+/A-. But it is imperative to know when the work needs to be at an A+, and that is also a part of paying attention to everything.

Preparation is key.

One of the hardest parts about being a forensic accountant is seeing the pain and aftermath of the situation as experienced by my clients. Hopefully these lessons will provide some positive consequence from some otherwise difficult and unfortunate situations.


Forbes Business Development Council is an invitation-only community for sales and biz dev executives. Do I qualify?




Source link

Tagged in : Amazon Business Login Amazon Business Prime Bank Of America Business Account Best Business Schools Business Attorney Near Me Business Bank Account Business Card Holder Business Card Maker Business Card Template Business Cards Near Me Business Casual Attire Business Casual Shoes Business Casual Woman Business Plan Examples Ca Business Search Ca Sos Business Search Capital One Business Credit Card Chase Business Checking Chase Business Credit Cards Chase Business Customer Service Chase Business Login Chase Business Phone Number Cheap Business Cards Citizens Business Bank Cox Business Login Digital Business Card Facebook Business Suite Finance In Business Free Business Cards Google Business Login Harvard Business School Lands End Business Massage Parlor Business Near Me Michigan Business Entity Search Mind Your Business Mind Your Own Business Ohio Business Search Risky Business Costume Skype For Business Small Business Loan Small Business Saturday 2021 Starting A Business Texas Business Entity Search Triumph Business Capital Vending Machine Business Verizon Business Customer Service Vonage Business Login Wells Fargo Business Account Yahoo Small Business Yahoo Small Business Login

Related Articles

March 24, 2021

The True SEO Value

May 21, 2021

Ba Business

September 13, 2021

How Do Companies Make Money

Post navigation

Previous Previous post: GitHub Copilot AI coding assistant is now generally available
Next Next post: Drivers’ Lawsuit Claims Uber and Lyft Violate Antitrust Laws

Recent Posts

  • Alexa Together review: Using the Echo to support aging in place
  • Best small personal loans of July 2022
  • Biden’s inflation plan means blaming shipping, not the White House
  • Educators Don’t Need To Cope. They Need To Resist.
  • One in four SMBs would leave their MSP over quality issues: Report

Archives

  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • January 2017

Categories

  • Accountants Expertise
  • Business Account
  • Cpa Vs Accountant
  • Personal Account
  • Personal Finances
  • Tax Accountants

Visit Now

business grants for women
Intellifluence Trusted Blogger

BL

TL

insolvencyebaldwinandco.co.uk All rights reserved Theme: News Base by Themematic
Wednesday June 22, 2022
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT