This seminar will explore the most significant accounting scandals and corporate failures, examining the methods, motivations, and consequences of financial fraud. Participants will analyze landmark cases that reshaped accounting regulation and corporate governance standards.
Designed for Corporate accountants, CPAs, internal auditors, financial executives, compliance professionals, and corporate board members, this seminar provides a comprehensive understanding of how accounting frauds occur, why internal controls fail, and what organizations can do to prevent financial misconduct.
Learning Objectives:
- Emerging frauds in the digital age and cryptocurrency sector
- Revenue recognition manipulation and earnings management schemes
- Asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud techniques
- Explore future trends and their implications for the accounting profession
- PCAOB oversight and enhanced auditor responsibilities
- Whistleblower protections and the role of internal reporting
- Forensic accounting techniques and fraud investigation methodologies
- Red flags and warning signs of fraudulent activity
- Corporate culture, tone at the top, and ethical breakdowns
Agenda
Agenda: DAY 1
8:45-10:10 Fraud Cases: Historical Cases
- Review landmark fraud cases (e.g., Enron, WorldCom, Theranos) to understand how manipulation of financial statements, internal control breakdowns, and management override occurred.
- Identify common warning signs - both quantitative and qualitative - that preceded major frauds and discuss how these signals can be detected earlier in corporate environments.
10:10-10:25 Break
10:25-11:40 Fraud Cases: Recent Cases
- Spotlight on Recent Corporate Fraud Cases: Review major fraud incidents from the past few years - what happened, how they were uncovered, and the lessons they reveal about evolving fraud tactics.
- Strengthening Fraud Awareness and Detection: Discuss practical strategies for finance teams to enhance fraud monitoring, leverage analytics, and promote an ethical, alert culture.
11:40-11:50 Break
11:50-1:05 Automation - double edged sword
- How Automation Empowers Fraudsters: Examine how advances in AI, bots, and process automation have enabled new forms of financial manipulation, deepfakes, and phishing attacks that bypass traditional controls.
- Automation as a Fraud Deterrent: Explore how data analytics, continuous monitoring, and AI-driven anomaly detection strengthen fraud prevention and accelerate investigation response times.
1:05-1:50 Lunch Break
1:50-3:00 Financial Accounting Fraud Trends and Cases
- Analyze notable accounting frauds involving revenue recognition, reserves, capitalization, and off-balance-sheet structures - and how they were ultimately detected.
- Explore how fraudsters are adapting traditional accounting schemes to exploit automation, complex transactions, and aggressive forecasting pressures.
3:00-3:10 Break
3:10-4:40 SOX & Internal Controls
- Risk assessment refresh
- Significant transactions and events
- Explore how internal control failures contributed to historical frauds and how today’s control frameworks (COSO, SOX 404) address these weaknesses.
Speakers
Abby Cohen, Deloitte, Senior Manager
Dom Mills, Grant Thornton, Partner
Julie Dockins, Grant Thornton, Audit Senior Manager
Alex Brosseau, Deloitte, Senior Manager - Tax Policy
Heather DiFiore, FTI Consulting, Senior Managing Director
Kevin Donofrio, KPMG, Director
Kizzy Guft, Protiviti, Managing Director
Shawn Seasongood, Protiviti, Managing Director
Devin Zeller, Protiviti, Director
Dan Hansen, Protiviti, Managing Director
Jon Medina, Protiviti, Managing Director
