Board and Fraud is a blog that aims to bring a practical approach to issues facing the board of directors and the audit committee specifically in the area of governance, risk management, compliance, and internal audit, with a strong focus on fraud, ethics, and internal controls.
In 2020, the DOJ and SEC brought FCPA enforcement actions against 12 companies and imposed financial penalties totaling a record $6.4 billion. For a comparison, in 2019, 14 companies paid a (then) record $2.9 billion to resolve FCPA cases.
Are you exposed?
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On January 12, 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced the first civil settlement with a borrower for allegedly committing fraud in obtaining a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loan, in violation of the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (“FIRREA”).
The FCA allows the government to recover damages and penalties for presenting false claims for payment to the United States. FIRREA allows the government to impose civil penalties for violations of enumerated federal criminal statutes, including those that affect federally-insured financial
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We are introducing our first annual virtual Baker Tilly Fraud and Compliance Summit, hosted by Jonathan T. Marks, who leads Baker Tilly’s Global Forensic, Compliance, and Integrity Services Practice.
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On December 11, 2020, the Senate passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA” or the “Act”) – DIVISION F of the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2021 (the “NDAA”). The House of Representatives had previously passed the measure on December 8, 2020.
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Happy New Year, and thank you to the more than 100,000 people that visited Board and Fraud in 2020!
With everything that happened last year, fraud, compliance, and risk management have arguably become more important than ever.
Background
The Securities and Exchange Commission (”SEC”) announced an award of more than $300,000 to a whistleblower whose high-quality information and continuing assistance significantly contributed to a successful enforcement
Soon all public and private organizations in the EU with more than fifty (50) employees will soon be required to comply with a new EU Whistleblower Protection law. The new law highlights the importance of responsive, transparent, and timely whistleblowing case management. So just implementing a hotline is not enough. Organizations must consider confidentiality, acknowledgment of the tip or compliant, response times, the competence of persons receiving the reports, communication with the whistleblower, and feedback on how the case is being processed. The new law also includes the right to report concerns externally while remaining legally protected. That’s a risk organizations must avoid. With the December 2021 deadline fast approaching, there is no better time for management and boards to act.
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In this pandemic era, global companies have been challenged to maintain a reliable and effective internal investigation program. Companies have relied on remote investigation strategies to collect and review documents and conduct interviews. In conducting remote investigations, companies have to ensure that they follow investigation requirements, maintain the confidentiality of the process, and comply with applicable data privacy rules and security requirements.
In this webinar, Jessica Sanderson, Partner at The Volkov Law Group, and Jonathan T. Marks, Partner| Leader of the Global Forensic Investigation, COmpliance & Integrity Practice at Baker Tilly, will discuss best practices for conducting remote internal investigations. They will outline strategies for collecting and reviewing documents, analyzing financial data, and conducting interviews using remote technologies.
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Without any fanfare, the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division has once again revised its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (“ECCP”). The ECCP remains organized around three overarching questions that prosecutors ask when evaluating compliance programs, with some revisions, which are in bold text below:
Is the corporation’s compliance program well designed?
Is the program being applied earnestly and in good faith? In other words, is the program being implemented adequately resourced and empowered to function effectively?
Does the corporation’s compliance program work in practice?
While most of the document is identical to the 2019 Guidance, there are subtle and noticeable revisions. The revisions appear to be designed to help provide additional clarity when answering the above three questions.
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Whistleblowers: Tipsters not trusting the system? Here’s how to win them back.
Anonymous hotlines and tip-reporting structures are useless, of course, if informants don’t trust them. Employees won’t blow the whistle if they fear reprisals. So, their concerns often don’t enter case-management systems and frauds continue. Here’s how to earn back their trust, take them seriously and transform raw tips into valuable fraud examinations.
Ovem lupo commitere!
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As the use of whistleblower programs continues to grow, many organizations find themselves struggling to manage burgeoning caseloads. As a result, serious fraud investigations can be delayed (with mounting losses) while less consequential complaints are being investigated. The lack of a timely, systematic and repeatable process for evaluating and prioritizing whistleblower tips that contain allegations of ethical breaches can also expose an organization to increased regulatory risk.
While there is no single, “right” method for following up on whistleblower complaints, the most effective approaches often resemble the medical triage programs that hospitals and first responders use to allocate limited resources during emergencies, or a crisis situation.
Here are some useful guidelines for designing and implementing a fraud triage system.
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The risk of fraud is a serious concern for all types of enterprises, but fraud can be particularly damaging to a nonprofit or not-for-profit organization, for which a damaged reputation can have devastating consequences.
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On November 20th, 2019, The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced updates to its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) Corporate Enforcement Policy. While the changes were relatively minor, the modifications underscored important principles surrounding the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.
This latest update follows extensive revisions made in March of this year and the announcement that the FCPA Policy will apply as non-binding guidance for all criminal cases; all reflect DOJ’s continued efforts to promote self-disclosures and provide clarity on DOJ’s approach for companies deciding whether to self-disclose. There is little doubt the DOJ has landed on a Corporate Enforcement Policy that took years to develop. The FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy now applies to all corporate criminal prosecutions except Antirust Division criminal prosecutions that are guided by the Leniency Program. The DOJ is consistently applying the principles and appears to be very comfortable with the results.
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Welcome to my site. I have spoken and been the keynote speaker for many conferences, including the ABA, ACC, ACFE, IIA, and IMA to name a few. I have designed customized training for the board, senior leadership, legal, compliance, internal audit, and others for some of the world’s largest organizations.
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On November 5th, the Department of Justice announced the formation of the new Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) “focusing on deterring, detecting, investigating and prosecuting antitrust crimes, such as bid-rigging conspiracies and related fraudulent schemes, which undermine competition in government procurement, grant and program funding”.
The Strike Force is an inter-agency partnership comprised of prosecutors from the Antitrust Division, and prosecutors from thirteen (13) U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. Aiding in the prosecutors’ efforts are investigation partners such as the Offices of Inspector Generals from the Department of Justice, Department of Defense, U.S. Postal Service, and General Services Administration Office. The Department of Justice’s announcement proclaimed that investigating and prosecuting those who “cheat, collude and seek to undermine the integrity of government procurement” will have more to concern themselves with when executing their crimes. Prosecutors and investigators alike expressed enthusiasm to be working as a part of this new team.
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How can we protect our brand? What are we doing to protect our brand? Questions all board members should be constantly asking. Reputational risks can damage the most well-crafted business strategies and is a growing challenge that companies around the world are still learning how to manage.
By definition, reputational risk refers to the potential for negative publicity, public perception, or uncontrollable events to adversely impact a company’s reputation, thereby affecting its revenue.
Board directors covet their company’s reputation because it’s their most valuable asset. A study by Deloitte and Forbes affirmed this conviction, but should not surprise anyone. Senior-level executives also agreed that their company’s reputation presented the greatest risk to the company’s ability to achieve business strategies.
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Overview
After what appears to be a 73 month investigation, as part of an internal administrative order, Juniper Networks, Inc. – NYSE: JNPR (“Juniper”, or “the Company”)
We just confirmed our first awesome speaker Niki A. den Nieuwenboer, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Business Ethics at The University of Kansas School
As the use of whistleblower programs continues to grow, many organizations find themselves struggling to manage burgeoning caseloads. As a result, serious fraud investigations can be delayed (with mounting
Some of the biggest mistakes made when handling a crisis are not dealing with the problem head on, thoughtless or insincere comments, lack of communication with stakeholders, unprepared spokespeople, getting defensive after receiving backlash, or, sitting back and letting the problem grow. Domino’s, Sony, Samsung, BP, United Airlines, Equifax, KFC, are all good examples of companies who stumbled with crisis management. Organizations should study these crises and learn from the mistakes!
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Overview
The House has passed a bill to reverse the impact of the Digital Realty Trust Supreme
DOJ Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs
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Tipsters have grown frustrated with the length of time it has taken the the SEC (“Commission”) to determine whether a tip warrants a reward.
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With the help from a true friend, Tom Fox, I am entering the world of Podcasting. I will be developing at least three Podcasts per
Organizations are under increasing scrutiny regarding ethical lapses and allegations of fraud. Fiscal year 2018 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program, as more and more individuals have been coming forward with allegations of impropriety. Come learn how to use continuous auditing and monitoring in the fight against fraud – or help improve your compliance program!
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