Session 1: Little & Big Red Flags of Fraud

The term "red flags" is used in the field of fraud examination to refer to factors that can be indicators of the possibility of fraud.  Most likely, the term is associated with "big" activities or conditions that could provide clues to a "big" fraud.  But, in some situations, it can be the "little" red flags that are the first indicators of fraud and the significance of those may be overlooked by fraud examiners.  This course will include discussions of both little and big red flags with specific examples.

Session 2: Unmasking the Issue: The Changing Nature of Synthetic Identity Fraud

Synthetic identity fraud is a top fraud issue that has impacted the industry for many years, but do you know how it’s evolving? Fraudsters have been redirecting their use of synthetic identities to new vulnerable markets. During the pandemic, synthetic identity fraud was used to commit unemployment fraud or fraud against relief programs, which is a pivot from the credit card bust outs it was formerly concentrated in. Is your organization on its toes with how this fraud is shifting and if your organization is at risk? Over several years, the Federal Reserve Banks have developed a deep understanding of synthetic identity fraud, developed a clear definition of this fraud type, and have released new toolkits that will provide financial institutions, consumers and businesses with a suite of online resources to identify and fight it. Join this session to learn more about this complex fraud, potential mitigation strategies, and resources that are available to support your organization.

Session 3: Ethics, Fraud and Program Integrity for Internal Auditors

To effectively perform their responsibilities to management and the board, internal auditors must have a strong understanding of ethics. They must approach their own work with integrity, objectivity, confidentiality, and competency, but often are also required to assess the ethics of decision-making across the organization in the course of providing assurance and advisory services. This is prominent within assurance, advisory and consulting engagements that include considerations of potential fraud. We recognize that this is taking shape in the form of program integrity reviews in non-profits and government organizations, where compromises are responsible for maintaining trust (in contrast to risk of erosion of trust). 

Through a series of case studies, the Deloitte team will highlight key ethical considerations for internal auditors, provide an overview of fraud and program integrity as well as help think about considerations in defining the role of internal auditors with respect to fraud.

Session 4: Recent Fraud Related Work at the Office of the Auditor General (BC)

The Office of the Auditor of General for British Columbia has released a number of reports in the past few years with a focus on fraud risk management in government and the broader public sector.  This session will cover this work and the tools used by the office, including performance audits and questionnaires, to continue a conversation with legislators on the importance of fraud risk management. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Session 1: Texas State University -  Carolyn Conn ,Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, CFE is an accounting faculty member who has taught both academic and CPE accounting ethics courses as well as fraud examination.  She has experience in multiple university administrative positions, including:  payroll and budgeting, controller, and associate ice president of financial services.  In the latter position she was one of two project sponsors for implementation of ERP software for accounting, budgeting, payroll, and human resources.  Dr. Conn has given presentations at conference and published teaching cases for university courses in the areas of ethics and ethical decision-making as well as fraud prevention and detection.

Session 2: FED (Federal Reserve Bank) - Staci Shatsoff  is an assistant vice president in the secure payments department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In this role, Staci is responsible for leading the execution of programs and strategies that advance payment security and fraud mitigation across the industry through research, outreach, and collaboration efforts.

Staci has 10+ years’ experience in fraud prevention at large FI’s, as well as fraud consulting experience, all within the financial sector. Most recently, Staci worked at a large financial institution where she served as vice president and senior fraud strategy manager. In that role, she led the U.S. fraud strategies team, which focused on emerging fraud and cross-product fraud patterns, including digital payments, account openings, and login activity. She also developed and implemented digital fraud prevention and detection strategies. Staci has a bachelor’s in mathematics and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Session 3: Deloitte

Divya Iyengar is a Senior Manager at Deloitte with over 24 years of experience providing governance, risk, controls, internal audit and advisory services, including fraud and investigations. Prior to joining Deloitte’s Victoria office, Divya worked in assurance roles in a variety of industries, including information technology services, insurance, and the public sector with Ontario’s provincial government. She now sits on the board of Vancouver Island’s IIA Chapter and serves a diverse range of public and private sector organizations within British Columbia and across Canada.

Jolande de Wet is a Senior Manager at Deloitte specializing in Forensic services, with a specific focus on Fraud Risk Management Services as well as Forensic Investigation Services. She has developed and delivered these initiatives as part of a broader Enterprise Risk Management solution and Internal Audit, which cover the ancillary areas of governance, prevention, detection and response towards fraud risk using cutting edge analytics. Jolande is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Mihaela Voicu is a Manager with Deloitte’s Edmonton office with a focus on risk advisory, financial crime and program integrity. In her previous role as Manager of Investigations at Alberta Health, Mihaela oversaw the identification and recovery of excessive billings for medical fee for service claims, and championed innovation, analytics driven process improvement, technology upgrades, policy changes, and systemic changes to enhance productivity and effectiveness. Mihaela is passionate about researching various types of information, identifying patterns and outliers, using data and corroborating facts and information to resolve complex business problems in a wholistic manner.

Session 4: OAG BC

Stuart Newton joined the Office of the Auditor General of B.C. in 2016 and is the assistant auditor general responsible for the financial audit and related services portfolio. This work includes financial statement audits of the Province’s Summary Financial Statement and Crown entities. Before joining the office, Stuart was the comptroller general for the Province of British Columbia from 2010-16, and previously held several senior roles within the Office of the Comptroller General. He served as executive director, internal audit and advisory service, responsible for the development and execution of the annual audit plan and ensuring quality assurance with respect to audit and advisory services. He also served as executive director, financial management branch, where he was responsible for the effective stewardship and management of financial resources by providing strategic direction and expertise on the development, implementation, and evolution of financial legislative policy.

Mark Castator joined the Office of the Auditor General of B.C. in 2017 and is a director in the Financial Audit and Related Services portfolio. For the past two years, Mark has coordinated the office’s efforts on its Report on the Financial Audit Work and fraud risk questionnaires. Mark is a CPA, CA. Before joining the office, Mark held positions in internal audit and finance departments in a variety of public and private sector organizations. Mark has also been involved in coordinating enterprise risk management efforts for organizations in both the public and private sector.