Building a head start with know-how. your partner

The book shows practically how to lower the liability, asset and reputation risks associated with fraud. In developing internal systems for recognising and preventing fraud, it is decidedly advantageous to understand the approach taken by the offenders. Readers can benefit from practical content and excerpts from interviews with convicted fraudsters – “straight from the horse’s mouth”, so to speak.

• How to protect assets, limit liability and build a strong reputation
• Economic crime in everyday business life
• When and why employees commit white collar crimes
• Best practices for prevention

Inquiries to Schuchter

If things go from bad to worse, white-collar crime is apt to jeopardise the stability of the financial market. Alexander Schuchter on current and future measures between modern technology and human expertise.

• Milestones of forensic science
• Human and artificial intelligence
• Understanding perpetrators’ courses of action

Link to the Online Contribution

Nowadays, the relevance of Compliance extends far beyond the borders of the financial services sector. It has become a subject of interest for industrial and commercial companies as well as service providers outside the world of finance. Money laundering, corruption, cartel deals and data protection are phenomena which present risks to all types of businesses. Hence Compliance Management needs to control and promote the correct conduct of employees.

Participants: Compliance, internal audit, public accountants, supervisory boards, C-suite, risk officers, crime risk controllers, in-house lawyers and legal practitioners.

Link to the Programme

As the seminar was quickly booked up (thank you), there will be an additional training on October 10, 2018 (link below)!

The aim of the course is to introduce and sensitise participants to common white collar crime patterns, opportunities for fraud, and motivating factors. This increases awareness toward anomalies in professional auditing practice. In order to plan and implement effective audits, reporting processes and preventive measures, it is imperative to understand the factors which trigger fraud. After completing the course, participants should be able to make a well-founded and effective assessment of the risks which could lead to fraud.

Seeing fraud from the perspective of fraudsters and coming to “understand” the approach taken by offenders can be helpful for example in assessing control strategies and determining test steps – internal audit.

• Common anomalies (“red flags”) and increased risk situations in companies which are often underestimated
• Practical explanatory approach, recurring patterns and special characteristics of fraud in companies
• Fraudsters and their thought patterns, opportunities, motives and other triggers for fraud
• Efficient and inefficient control mechanisms, effective prevention

Link to the Programme

Fraud causes considerable damage. An in-depth analysis of the root causes offers potential for combatting fraudulent behaviour in a targeted manner. Hence a scientific, explanatory approach provides a theoretical basis on which to work. In the course of an empirical study, Schuchter visited fraudsters.

According to the fraudsters, opportunity is the sole imperative precondition for perpetrating a crime, whereby pressure can also make a significant contribution in tipping the balance. The most effective preventive measures are named as being efficacious controls, competent and mindful managers, qualified supervisory bodies, external and neutral professionals and regulation by the state.

Inquiries to Amazon or Schuchter

To keep corruption at bay, Schuchter believes the solution lies in explaining and raising awareness for the risks. Employees and civil servants should be in a position to recognise the earliest warning signals for corruption. Schuchter does not agree with the demand for increased controls. “Too many controls can have the opposite effect.” They undermine trust in the employees and increasingly prevent people from using their own brains. As such, they are unlikely to lead to a decrease in the number of corruption scandals, Schuchter claims.

Link to the Interview

They’ve cheated their employers out of millions, falsified the balance sheets and bribed their business partners. Alexander Schuchter, lecturer and researcher at St. Gallen University and corporate consultant, has interviewed hundreds of small-scale and large-scale fraudsters. He can draw psychographs of white collar criminals like those named in the Paradise Papers. The problem: The fraudsters of this world can win the trust of those around them with playful ease. But companies can protect themselves against such persons! A discussion on power, morals and those who just “go with the flow”.

Link to the Interview

Is it really possible to understand criminals? How can such understanding help the company and the internal audit, for example, in assessing controls and determining audit steps? Who is the typical fraudster and what we can stimulate? Is there anything beyond our recent theories and models, such as the Fraud Triangle? Perhaps the most important question we need to ask ourselves is: Why should we be interested in this?

Each year, the ECIIA Conference is arranged in different European countries. IIA Switzerland has been selected to host the Conference of the ECIIA (European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing) in 2017.

Link to the Conference

During the Actelion takeover, one of the professionals involved made an illegal attempt to enrich himself – and was exposed. Why do managers risk their reputation and their career? … This manager ruined his career and reputation for 10,000 Swiss Francs.

For more than ten years, Alexander Schuchter from St. Gallen University has been researching white-collar crime. He claims that “soft factors” frequently play a role in minor white-collar crime. These include not receiving sufficient respect and acknowledgement within the company, a decline in the level to which individuals identify with their company, but also pride and arrogance…”

Link to the Video Interview

What do we need to think about when developing corporate anti-fraud training programs?

The Swiss financial industry values pre-employment screenings because they’re considered to be an effective anti-fraud strategy. But what about other preventive measures like corporate anti-fraud training programs? Does it pay off to invest in this area?

In 2016, Schuchter and Wenger surveyed 18 Swiss companies — only banks and insurers — about their anti-fraud training programs. The findings can be benchmarks for organizations and provide insights into how to enrich programs.

Much of our study’s results are easily transferable to any industry in any country. Some ideas could represent a starting point for making anti-fraud training in your organization more powerful. Findings obtained from an online survey and several face-to-face meetings show there’s still room for improvement. At the same time, our respondents provide fascinating insights that could make corporate training more effective.

See Fraud Magazine or inquiries to Schuchter