In today’s increasingly complex business environment, companies necessarily face numerous challenges and risks. It is generally known that so far the major factor leading to detecting corporate fraud is accidence. However with so much at stake companies should rely on much more sophisticated strategies than good luck only. The detection and minimization of internal fraud is now an integral part of protecting business. Organizations cannot afford not to be concerned about the risk of corporate fraud. Directors and management have a fiduciary obligation and a corporate responsibility to take steps to deter, detect and prevent it. This conference will provide a unique opportunity to hear and meet experts from leading international companies. The most crucial topics of fighting corporate fraud such as prevention, detection and investigation along with fraud risk management will be addressed in form practical cases studies, interactive discussions and examples from day-to-day life.
On February 12th and 13th fifty experts from market leaders from financial, telecommunication, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, automotive and other industries from all over Europe met at beautiful Marriott Hotel in Brussels in order to meet and exchange ideas and professional knowledge on how to best prevent their companies from corporate fraud committed within the enterprises.
The first conference day was dealt with two main themes - regulations and policies that are being implemented at global companies and examples of fraud prevention measures.
The morning session of day one was opened by Mr. Franz-Hermann Brüner, Director General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) who introduced the topic of Fighting Corporate Fraud from the EU prospective. Mr. Brüner looked at recent activities and initiatives on European scale focused on efforts to minimize corporate fraud. The next three presentation by Fortis, Barclays and Fiat brought an insight into fraud preventive measures at implemented at global companies including the examples of whistle blowing policies that can more or less successfully lead to early detection of internal fraud. As the main challenges with whistle blowing were mentioned especially: how to motivate the employees to blow the whistle and thus to draw the attention to a possible fraud. Also the effectiveness of single whistle blowing channels was reconsidered while it occurred that differences in culture and mentality between countries and companies do influence the willingness of the employees to blow the whistle.
The morning session was then concluded by an impressive presentation by Ms. Rosalind Wright of the UK Fraud Advisory Panel. Ms. Wright was called to the Bar in 1964 and she has since pursued a career in financial services regulation, fraud prosecution, and prevention. With so much experience from the field of combating fraud, she was well able to outline the most recent trends evolving in financial crime and fraud in general. It was interesting to realize that while the fraudsters are currently using more and more sophisticated technology to commit fraud, the essence of fraud has actually remained still the same as perhaps a hundred years ago.
The afternoon session looked at how companies can be far better off with prevention than cure. Mr. Nick Mann of British Vodafone, an internationally recognized fraud and security innovator, was one of the first professional criminal investigators to be employed in the telecoms and financial services industries. In a very engaging presentation Mr. Mann shared his rich experience with Strategic Planning for Fraud and Security Functions. When establishing an anti-fraud function within the company Mr. Mann advises to perform the reviewing existing structures as opposed to building from the scratch as well as benchmarking - understanding what works and what does not. Mr. Mann stressed the necessity of filling the gaps in security systems so as to avoid common errors.
The first day was completed with a case study of the British Petroleum Company presenter by Mr. Ray Petrie. He listed some main features of BT as a global company, such as the complexity and heritages of organization, its global coverage and further factors that are key challenges when it comes to spreading the fraud awareness on group-wide level. The key steps towards efficient fraud prevention are as stated by BT are: good definition and awareness of fraud, clear accountabilities and responsibilities, full reporting, consistent and transparent investigation criteria as well as focused management disclosure and oversight.
The end of the day was then followed by networking cocktail reception hosted by the Jacob Fleming Company.
The second conference day was focused on practical tips and insight on how to perform corporate health check on potential fraud cases, what are the warning signs and where to look for potential red flags as well as how to be successful with fraud investigations.
The opening presentation by Mr. Patrick Wellens of the pharmaceutical company Merck advised on the role of internal auditors in preventing corporate fraud as well as mentioned several cases of fraud and how they could be prevented.
Equally catchy and interesting was also the next presentation by Mr. Simon Scales of TNT, global express delivery company. When performing the corporate health check on potential fraud, Mr. Scales presented the main objectives as defined at TNT: identification of transactions, entities, relationships which are indicative of potential fraud, corruption, malpractice or abuse of internal controls or procedures; key learning that includes cyclical monitoring, detection, interpretation and corrective action; cost efficiency that targets specific fraud and corruption risks, delivers consistent, comparable and easily classified results and avoids contentious data protection issues. Last but not the least is the proactive indicator: the Health check is designed to provide early detection, avert possible damage to reputation and provide a basis for corrective actions.
Irene Guertler who is the newly nominated group-wide anti-fraud coordinator at Allianz presented on the issue of tackling fraud on global level. This global insurance company felt it necessary to overcome the gaps in internal security arising from the differences in geographic regions, diversified business cultures and practices as well as the risk of not being compliant with local regulations, e.g. in Europe, the UK, or the USA. Therefore Allianz decided to set up an Anti-Fraud Program that would create the atmosphere of international anti-fraud team working.
The day then followed with two case study presentations by two global companies both based in the Netherlands – Heineken and Shell International, presented by Mr. Michel Kee and Mr. Roger Hickman. Both of them declare zero tolerance to fraud; however the discussion after the presentation has brought in an interesting question to be discussed – on one hand the zero tolerance to fraud would mean that the company reports every single fraud suspicion to the relevant authorities – on the other hand such procedure would necessarily lead to harm on the corporate reputation. The companies therefore need to decide for them selves how many and how serious the fraud issue must be to be reported to police and thus become published in public media.
The last presentation of the second conference day brought some very practical tips on how to be successful with fraud investigations. Mr Tim Harvey, the Director of the UK Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Tim’s experience in law enforcement began in 1979 with the Metropolitan Police in London. He served as a career detective, working with the Fraud Squad at Scotland Yard. In 2004, Tim joined the City of London Police as detective superintendent for their economic crimes division. Mr. Harvey managed to summarize the key tips that may lead to successful outcome of fraud investigations: good investigation needs to be structured and using a strategic investigative plan. Examination log, managing by actions, keeping focused, monitoring and reviewing are a must. Last but no the least an open mind and using all senses to communication are vital.
Jacob Fleming Company and its team were happy to host this Fighting Corporate Fraud Conference and we are happy to meet all the speakers and participants at some other Jacob Fleming Conference in future.
Martina Kuklisova
Senior Conference Producer
Jacob Fleming Group
