Investigating fraud in a COVID-19 world: A targeted response helps companies to fight a pandemic of financial fraud
Fraud levels increase in times of economic distress, and the global pandemic is creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for financially rewarding mischief. As companies strive to adjust to the altered state created by the COVID-19 pandemic, actors with ill intent will do the same, looking for ways to leverage the disruption and havoc the coronavirus has caused.
All of this at a time when companies under economic stress may decide to cut non-revenue-generating compliance and audit functions, weakening some of the internal defense systems already in place for protection just at a time when risk oversight should probably be scaled up. And to top it off, a newly remote workforce, including those who provide oversight, may be disoriented by modified workflows and communications channels, making it easy to overlook (or fail to report) irregularities, further increasing risk and making the enforcement of compliant behavior more difficult.
If the projected uptick in fraud pans out, many companies may face significant hardship. Therefore, Sheila Mackay discusses what companies can do to quickly identify and prevent fraud in a newly published article.
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