Larry’s Laws of Larceny- Law 5: Kiting Isn’t a Windy March Pastime

Larry Beebe, CPA

Kiting, or check kiting, is a scheme where a person deposits checks back and forth between banks. The fraudster steals and covers up the theft by continuing to deposit checks back and forth between accounts. The amount of the checks deposited is often so large that the amount stolen appears small in comparison. In one recent case the checks deposited back and forth totaled $114 million to cover a theft of approximately $1.6 million.

To prevent kiting the […]

September 22, 2015 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Larry’s Laws of Larceny- Law 4: Lapping has Nothing to do With the Daytona 500

Larry Beebe, CPA

Lapping is a fraudulent scheme which allows an individual to steal cash from an organization. It can occur in at least two ways in a multi-employer benefit plan.

One way involves a theft of employer contributions. An employee of the benefit plan steals an incoming employer contribution, converts it to cash, and steals the cash. The thief covers up by crediting the employer’s account with the next employer’s payment. The thief then steals again and covers up in […]

September 15, 2015 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Larry’s Laws of Larceny- Law 3: Double Entry Bookkeeping Doesn’t Produce a Double set of Books

Larry Beebe, CPA

This statement is a play on words. Double entry bookkeeping is the type of accounting used in the business world by everyone.

A double set of books has nothing to do with double entry bookkeeping. An entity would have two sets of books to avoid paying taxes or for some other criminal purpose. In an employee benefit plan, the second set of books might be used to avoid the obligations called for by the collective bargaining agreement signed […]

September 8, 2015 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Larry’s laws of Larceny- Law 2: The Auditor Can’t Find What Isn’t on the Books

Larry Beebe, CPA

I often read stories in the newspaper about funds being stolen or misused. Often there is an outcry from the newspapers or a politician stating, “Why didn’t the auditors catch the fraud?” Sometimes the answer to the question is the auditor has no way of detecting the fraud because the fraudulent transactions were not on the books.

A large pension plan hired a new investment manager. In order to get the account the investment manager hired a relative […]

August 25, 2015 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Larry’s Laws of Larceny- Law 1: If Often Starts with Credit Card Charges

Larry Beebe, CPA

As auditor’s, we have found that most theft or embezzlement (defined as the misappropriations of funds placed in one’s trust or belonging to one’s employer) starts with small amounts. The thief steals a small amount, is successful, and that often leads to larger amounts being stolen.

A place that many thieves start is with credit card charges. They turn in phoney bills or receipts and get away with it. With success their confidence grows and they look for […]

August 18, 2015 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

FRAUD ALERT: BEWARE OF THE RESHIPPING SCAM

John Merchant, CPA

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service warns of an apparent employment opportunity that is actually a scam called Re-shipping Fraud. The scam goes like this: You receive notice of an opportunity or see an ad for employment as a “package processing assistant”. This is an attractive offer because you can work from home and your only duty is to receive packages and then re-ship them to a foreign address. The package that you are shipping overseas is likely […]

July 9, 2015 Accounting, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Fraud Detection

Larry Beebe, CPA

Everyone associated with an Employee Benefit Plan has a responsibility to search for and detect any existing or potential fraud.

The independent auditor in auditing the Plan’s financial statements “…is responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance that the financial statements, as a whole, are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or by error.”
Management and the Plan trustees have the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud. If these individuals are to be responsible for preventing […]

April 11, 2015 Accounting, Forensic Accounting Read more...

TELEPHONE SCAM WARNING ISSUED BY IRS

Scott Reddersen, CPA

Over the past several months, the IRS has issued several consumer alerts in response to telephone scam artists claiming to represent IRS agents.  Some of these callers use sophisticated and threatening tactics in an effort to persuade you to provide sensitive information.  While receiving one of these phone calls can be frightening, it is important to remember a few things about how these intimidation tactics differ from common IRS procedures.
The IRS will never call to demand immediate […]

November 7, 2014 Accounting, Forensic Accounting, Tax Read more...

Supreme Court Deals Blow to Public Sector Unions

Mark Buckberg, CPA, CFE, CFF

The United States Supreme Court yesterday issued their long awaited ruling in the Harris v. Quinn case. In a 5-4 split, it is the Supreme Court’s opinion, as delivered by Justice Samuel Alito, that the First Amendment does not permit a State to compel a personal care provider to subsidize speech on matters of public concern by a union they do not wish to join or support.In this case, a group of Illinois home care […]

June 1, 2014 Accounting, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Bond Beebe Launches Redesigned Website for Forensic Accounting Practice

Bond Beebe, a certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia, is pleased to announce the launch of a redesigned website for the Firm’s Forensic Accounting Practice, www.bbforensic.com. With posts on relevant fraud prevention, investigation, and litigation issues, as well as Frequently Asked Questions and articles, this site aims to provide insights to help businesses and tax-exempt organizations prevent fraud and safeguard financial assets.

Interested professionals are invited to submit content for the site […]

March 27, 2014 Firm News & Events, Forensic Accounting Read more...