Posted by Kieran Tonero.
Throughout the last four years many scammers have taken advantage of homeowners and business owners who lost properties during Superstorm Sandy. State officials have reported that scams that relate to Superstorm Sandy total $20 million. Many residents in Ocean County have been affected by Sandy-related fraud. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office has prosecuted more than 50 cases. Many of the cases involved contractors who took advantage of people that were looking to rebuild their houses and businesses. Some schemes that have been investigated so far include contractors that have not registered with the Division of Community Affairs and contractors that have taken money and failed to finish or even start jobs.
One of the most prominent cases in Ocean County involved a couple who owned two repair businesses. The couple was charged with “…taking more than $1 million from storm victims and using the money to gamble or buy luxury items instead of making the repairs” (Spoto). The couple was charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of property, money laundering, misconduct by a corporate official, tampering with public records, filing a fraudulent tax return, failure to file a tax return and failure to pay tax. The state attorney General Christopher Porrino said that “…20 owners paid the couple and their companies more than $1 million to repair, elevate, or rebuild their homes but work was either never started or abandoned in mid-stream” (Spoto). It is truly remarkable that many of these contractors took advantage of people after one of the worst storms in the history of the tri state area.
At last, another case that got attention for Hurricane Sandy fraud involved an Ocean County motel owner who falsely claimed he provided refuge to Hurricane Sandy victims in the aftermath of the storm. Sandipkumar Patel admitted that he took $81,567 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money from FEMA was meant to provide transitional housing for storm victims. According to the article Patel billed the federal government for housing 11 people in the wake of the storm. The state investigation found that eight of those people never stayed there while the three others were there for a shorter time than Patel claimed. Patel also used names of family members who were found to be not displaced by the storm. Patel will serve three years in prison while pleading guilty to second-degree theft by deception. Patel has also paid full restitution.
Kieran is a graduate accounting student with a certificate in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.
Posted by Leandro Iglesias.
The article “There Should be No Special Deal for Tax-Evading Cameco,” written by Murray Dobin describes Cameco, a Canadian based uranium mining colossus, that is currently facing charges in Federal Court by the Canada Revenue Agency for avoiding $2.2 billion in Canadian income taxes. As the article states, this case has been delayed for years and the fact that it has finally made it before a judge is good news. However, as we discussed in class, a lot of these forensic cases end up with companies settling and individuals are usually not held responsible. Because of that, it is important that Cameco’s case does not follow the same path, and that Cameco is held responsible for all its wrongdoings and not allowed to settle for any less. Cameco has been so arrogant in its tax avoidance, that it does not even bother to justify their tax planning and just states that they are following relevant laws and regulations. In order to bring attention to off-shore tax havens and to stop companies from abusing such tactics, Canada needs to make an example of Cameco.
As the article states, Cameco’s tax avoidance started in 1999, where they drafter Cameco drafted a 17-year uranium supply agreement at a fixed price of $10 a pound. In 1999, $10 a pound was the reasonable market value. However, as you can imagine, over the 17-year period it is obvious that price would change. As Dobin notes, “That world price went to almost $140 a pound in 2007 and is now around $35.” In order to understand the problem with the above scenario, we need to mention that the Canada corporate income tax is 27%, compared to the 10% tax rate in Switzerland. By the transfer pricing agreement, Cameco was paying Canadian income tax on revenue up to that $10 threshold, but any revenue above that was being paid in Switzerland, at a much lower 10% tax rate. As stated above, prices increased substantially from the 1999 market value, and so Cameco was benefiting of this transfer pricing agreement. The reason why this is a big deal is because the uranium was in Canada, and most of the uranium was also sold in Canada. Cameco would purposely sell its uranium at a lower $10 price to its subsidiary in Switzerland, and then recognize any revenue above $10 in Switzerland instead of in Canada, in order to avoid paying a higher Canadian income tax rate. However, as noted, an insignificant amount of revenues was actually coming from Europe.
This case sheds light on the intriguing topic of transfer pricing. Although Cameco is not a known company in the US, this case relates to the current news on Apple. Apple is facing a US$15 billion tax bill from the European Commission for its abuse of transfer pricing in Ireland. Many companies use transfer pricing to avoid paying higher taxes, which is not illegal. However, Cameco’s revenue is not generated in Switzerland, and they have no full-time employees or even an office location in Europe. Dobin states, “Virtually all the substantive work was performed in Canada. All of the uranium is mined in Canada, all of Cameco’s sales are negotiated and completed in Canada, and literally all of its profits are generated in Canada. The company’s scheme is pure scam which is why fair-tax activists in Saskatchewan call the company Scameco.”
There are ways in which transfer pricing can legally be used to decrease their tax burden, however companies are not allowed to create operations in foreign countries with the sole purpose of tax avoidance. As the article states, there is no operating business reason for Cameco to be in Europe; they neither mine uranium there or make sales abroad. The sole purpose of Cameco in Europe is tax evasion, and as a result they should be found guilty of tax evasion.
Finally, I found this article intriguing because it relates to topics we discussed in our “Legal Issues” class, and also in our Forensic Accounting class. Transfer pricing is just one of the ways in which corporations are boosting their profits, and loop-holes will always exist, hence why tax law and accounting law is always changing. Because of this reason, I believe the demand for forensic accountants is increasingly growing. Furthermore, when cases like Cameco are brought up, they usually all end up the same way, with corporations settling with the Government. I think it is important for corporations and individuals to be held responsible for their wrongdoings, and until that happens, corporations will keep on believing they can get away with it. Forensic accountants should play a bigger role in discovering and investigating cases like the one described in this article.
Leandro is a graduate accounting student with a concentration in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
Posted by Heidy Sanchez.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, is an fast casual restaurant which is known for specializing tacos and burritos. Their priority is to serve fresh organic food by hand nationwide, yet things took a drastic change after they announced their temporary closure. The E-coli controversy began in August 2015, when more than 200 people were sickened with norovirus after eating at one of its restaurants, according to the article Every Day’s a Safety Drill as Chipotle Woos Customers Back written by Stephanie Strom. This incident lead to another 64 people, who were affected with salmonella poisoning. Yet it was not until November, when the Chipotle company announced it had closed a string of stores across the Pacific Northwest because of E. coli contamination. Chipotle Mexican Grill took drastic measures to ensure the safety of their food to their customers in order to keep their reputation intact as well as their profits.
Strom states that more than 2,000 Chipotle’s Mexican restaurants were forced to use a digital kitchen timer, which gave employees a regular reminder every 30 minutes to wash their hands in order to prevent any similar problems in the future. The company established a new position of “food safety leader” to ensure that workers followed the orders and suggestion of Dr. Marsden, a food safety expert that Chipotle hired. Dr. Marsden long history of dealing with food-safety crises allowed him to create an innovative idea that would permit managers to check workers every morning for illnesses, to regularly check the temperature of food, to removing any possible contamination of the vegetables used in the restaurant. These procedures included drizzling chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapeno and avocados in citrus juices after they were immersed in hot water to kill germs on their peels, and rinsing and draining the lettuce and later submerge it in a vinegar solution. Dr. Marsden suggested marinating the chicken in the evenings to reduce risk of contamination. Chipotle’s efforts have been slowly paying off. “Robert Gravani, who teaches food safety at Cornell University, said what he had heard about what Chipotle was doing under Dr. Marsden’s direction seemed good (Strom).”
Chipotle’s controversial E-Coli caused their reputation and sales to decline and they have managed to work through this issue by creating innovative ideas. According to Strom “Some sales have returned, but more slowly than investors expected, and shares have fallen 45 percent in the last year.” This ultimately lead to the company’s bad reputation amongst customers, not to mention the decline in stock prices. Overall, Chipotle has managed to enhance food safety among its suppliers in order regain public’s confidence as well as their profits. Although, it is currently safe to eat Chipotle now, I would have stopped eating it during the E-Coli controversy. Chipotle has currently recovered and their efforts to bring back their clients and increase sales are now paying off.
Heidy is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2019.
Source:
Posted by Ricardo Collado.
One of the most awkward questions you can be asked in a job interview is “What are you salary requirements?” or “How much are you making in your current job?”. Massachusetts has become the first state to bar employers from asking about applicants’ salaries before offering them a job. The new law will require hiring managers to state a compensation figure upfront, based on what an applicant’s worth is to the company, rather than on what he or she made in a previous position.
Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker signed a law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2018. The pay disparity between men and women is still pronounced nationwide, even the size of the gap is in dispute. This bill is being pushed as a model for others states, as the issue of men historically outearning women who do the same job has leapt onto the national political scene. A new research from career site Glassdoor, which analyzed pay by job title at individual companies, said women earned 94.6 cents for every dollar earned by men in the same positons. Also the law will require equal pay not just for workers whose jobs are alike, but also for those whose work is of “comparable character” or who work in “comparable operations.” Workers with more seniority will still be permitted to earn higher pay, but the law effectively broadens the definition of what is equal work.
“I think very few businesses consciously discriminate, but they need to become aware of it,” said State Senator Pat Jehlen, a Democrat and one of the bill’s cosponsors. “These are things that don’t just affect one job; it keeps women’s wages down over their entire lifetime.” For example if you are in a job interview and a hiring manager asks you how much you make or how much you are looking for, Sethi, HR consultant, says you should say something like, “You know what, I’m happy to discuss money down the road, but right now I’m just trying to see if there’s a good fit for both of us. I’m sure you’re trying to do the same thing.”
Massachusetts joins at least 12 other states that already require companies to let employees compare notes about how much are paid. Massachusetts has created a new wave, not only to close wage gaps but to lower poverty rates and create a stronger economy for our country as a whole.
Ricardo is an accounting major at Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class 2018.
Sources:
New York Times, http://nyti.ms/2aKzR5c
Business Insider, http://www.businessinsider.com/massachusetts-equal-pay-law-2016-8
Quartz, http://qz.com/749476/massachusetts-salary-history-job-interviews/
Posted by Karolina Staron.
A lawsuit was brought against Dannon Company, Inc for falsely advertising their yogurt brand. Dannon Company for years has claimed their popular product to be the healthiest on the market, ultimately pricing higher than competitors. Stating that daily consumption of the yogurt will reduce occurrences of colds and strengthen individual’s immune system. Consumers profoundly believed in the advertising, willing to pay a higher price.
One individual, however, challenged those claims. Trish Wiener suffered with digestive problems, the consumption of the yogurt that guaranteed digestive system improvements was intended to aid with the discomfort. Inspire of this, with time the yogurt failed to relieve the daily burden and Wiener began to question the accuracy of the advertisement. “In its ads for the yogurts Dannon claims the products use exclusive strains of what are known as probiotic bacteria, [which] are live microorganisms, usually bacteria, similar to the beneficial ones found in the human digestive system. In the right amounts, they ‘confer a health benefit on the host.’” While, in fact no clinical testing has been accomplished to support the existence of probiotics in the dairy product.
Dannon Company, Inc. although denying any allegations against false advertising, has agreed to settle the Federal Trade Commission law suit. The settlement required acceptance to omit disclosing “scientific proof” benefit of their products. “Claiming that any yogurt, dairy drink, or probiotic food or drink reduces the likelihood of getting a cold or the flu, unless the claim is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.” The Company’s intention behind settling was forgo incurring additional expenses.
In the modern times, busy work schedule and daily tasks often take away time from properly planning meals and force people to rely on quickly obtainable foods. With a busy lifestyle people neglect the need to educate themselves on the quality of products they purchase. If the media states a specific food is beneficial to ingest, the statement is relied upon by the public without further questioning. This is only one case that has been brought to the public’s attention that addresses the topic of food quality and false advertisement. Many of the goods consumed on a daily bases possesses even lower value, yet are an accepted norm. The lesson taken from this case is to inform ourselves on the supposed benefits of the purchased products, because in truth unless we grow and produce foods ourselves, we won’t know the true ingredients embedded in every product.
Karolina is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/dannon-settles-lawsuit/story?id=9950269
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2010/12/dannon-agrees-drop-exaggerated-health-claims-activia-yogurt
Posted by Nick Contey.
In the past, Canada’s reputation against fraud has been nothing shy of embarrassing. Their inefficient methodologies created a hole in the financial fraud sector, giving little chance for victims to stand up against the suspects and letting convictions slip away. A perfect example has been the criticism towards the Integrated Market Enforcement Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for not effectively doing their job. Since 2003, there have only been 5 convictions of white-collar criminals despite their annual budget of roughly $40 million. Regardless of Canada’s past performances, the future seems to be a bit more optimistic due to new regulatory and enforcement programs. The new era of their fraud administration aims to focus on developing the three previously inefficient areas, which are enforcement, regulation, and prosecution. It seems that Canada will not stop until they have completely revamped their fraud methodologies, having improvements coming from both federal and provincial bodies.
Since 2012, there have been numerous changes on both the federal and provincial side that give authorities high expectations when it comes to fighting fraud in the future. One federal change came from the RCMP, expanding the mandate of its Commercial Crime Program which allows them to tackle more types of fraud files such as investment fraud, securities fraud, and several more. One provincial change came from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in 2013 where they created a new department called the Joint Serious Offences Team (JSOT). This innovative program creates more collaboration between federal and provincial bodies, giving authorizes a stronger chance of winning their fight against future fraud. The JSOT is a partnership team consisting of the OSC, the RCMP Financial Program, and Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets branch. According the 2015 Annual Report by Ontario Securities Commission, the JSOT executed 69 search warrants, had seven matters under investigation, and commenced 31 cases. “Canada is notably the only G7 economy without a national securities regulator,” (Richdale and Teal, 2016). The lack of a national regulatory establishments has been due to certain Constitutional literature. However, the Supreme Court has been debating on allowing a combined tactic between federal and provincial bodies as long as there are no contradictions to the provincial nature of securities regulations under Constitution. Although it is not officially implemented the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System is the first step in encouraging more collaborative methods against fraud. This system currently consist of British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, and the federal government.
Ontario has been the leader in the fight against fraud establishing three other changes that have already shown a positive impact, the OSC’s Whistleblower Program, the OSC’s no-contest program, and the increase in litigation funding. Effective July 24, 2016 the program gives whistleblowers the opportunity to receive 15 percent of the total monetary sanctions ordered (a maximum of $1.5 million). Whistleblowers also have the possibility to increase their reward to $5 million if the monetary sanctions exceed $10 million and their participation in the case were a direct result of $1 million or more in monetary sanctions. The no-contest program began in 2014, where its focus is to settle cases without creating an extensive litigation process. “The OSC has already approved a number of ‘no-contest’ settlements, including a large $156.1 million settlement with CI Investments Inc. in February, as well as a $13.5 million settlement with TD Waterhouse and related Entities,” (Brigeeta and Teal, 2016). The process of increasing litigation funding aims to give victims the ability to recover their losses as a result of the committed fraud. This shift showed its true impact in 2012 when the Supreme Court allowed litigation funding for the Livent Inc. v Deloitte & Touche case. “This funding arrangement ultimately allowed Livent’s receiver to pursue a costly 68-day trial against Deloitte. The trial judge awarded Livent damages in the amount of more than $84 million, (Richdale and Teal, 2016).” While Canada still isn’t considered a heavy hitter in the fraud investigation field, the effects of their recent changes show that their involvement will only get stronger.
Nick is a graduate accounting major with a concentration in Forensic Accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
Source:
Richdale, B., & Teal, C. (2016, November/December). Canada fighting fraud with new laws, enforcement. Fraud Magazine, 31(6). http://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4294994746
Posted by Ryan Borgo.
In 1977, the United States implemented the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This act states that it is a crime to pay another country’s public official for favors. Since this time many companies have been accused of disobeying this law and as a result were forced to pay a substantial fine or even faced jail time. The company Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, are currently under scrutiny for violating this act. The article related to this story by Forbes states “Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has agreed to pay $205m in fines to authorities in the U.S. and Brazil to settle a bribery investigation involving aircraft sales to Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, the Dominican Republic and India.” This settlement was announced on October 24th, 2016. These bribery payments had been reoccurring throughout the company for many years. For example, in the article it states “Embraer had paid bribes to a number of government officials and other intermediaries in the four countries and falsified its records in connection with the sale of 16 aircraft in four deals between 2008 and 2011.” Even though Embraer is a Brazilian company, if you are listed in the U.S (which Embraer was), you will still be subject to obey American corruption laws.
As a result of participating in these bribery transactions, Embraer earned a profit of $84 million dollars. These bribery deals included a plethora of illegal business transactions. For example, Embraer paid a government official $3.52 million dollars in the Dominican Republic in order to seal the deal on a contract to sell the Dominican Air Force military aircraft for $92 million dollars. By offering these officials a bribe it gives Embraer an unfair advantage over its competitors that are looking to do business in the Dominican Republic. It is also important to note that even if these officials did not accept the bribe, Embraer would still be charged as they still intended to offer the bribe. These individuals who accepted the bribe were charged due their involvement in these illegal business transactions, as they accepted these bribes when they could have denied them and reported Embraer to the authorities. In addition, in the following year Embraer “paid an agent $5.76m to secure the sale of three planes to the Indian Air Force for $208m.” As you can clearly see, Embraer has a long history of initiating bribery transactions amongst various countries.
The details of the settlement were highlighted in the article. “The settlement announced today involves payment of a criminal penalty of $107.3m. In addition, Embraer is paying the SEC $78.2m and Brazilian authorities a further $20m. The investigation was carried out by the US authorities under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” Furthermore, the Brazilian Authorities have charged 11 individuals in the Dominican Republic for accepting these bribes offered by Embraer. The business decisions taken by Embraer over the past years were insufferable and are considered unlawful in accordance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
It is not fair to other companies within the industry that complied with the law, as they may have lost many business deals as a result of the bribes committed by Embraer. For instance, Embraer is considered the world’s third largest company in the sector. However, much of this success may be as a direct result of the bribe transactions that they participated in the past. Therefore, in my opinion, the other companies in this industry should be compensated as a result of Embraer’s actions. Due to this settlement, authorities should closely monitor the future business transactions conducted by Embraer to ensure that they are legally sufficient.
Ryan is accounting graduate student with a concentration in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.
Posted by Francesca Mecionis.
The owners of America’s Test Kitchen filed a 39-page lawsuit against Christopher Kimball, and some of his other associates, on November 3. According to the suit, Kimball and his accomplices “conspired to literally and conceptually rip off” the Boston TV show. The reason for his actions were said to be for his personal benefit in order to help launch his new brand, Milk Street. There are accusations of “stolen customer lists and trade secrets, sneaky tactics to secure a radio deal, and new office space.” Kimball had a fiduciary responsibility to the show. However, the owners believed he had stolen their entire business model, “right down to how recipes are written,” and also had worked on his own project while still being employed by America’s Test Kitchen.
Kimball, in response to the suit, claims it is “absurd” and “was meant to generate publicity and to shore up the America’s Test Kitchen brand.” Yet, there is proof of his actions in writing. There was a forensic search of his emails, which showed “Kimball’s scrambling to set up his new business before he left the old one, securing copies of his work contacts and packing up his belongings.” In another email, Kimball wrote to his assistant, “Want to get ahead of the partners!” in regards to using the America’s Test Kitchen name to find a new office space for his business.
The lawsuit was issued in the Superior Court of Suffolk County of Massachusetts. The owners are hunting for “unspecified monetary damages, repayment of some of the compensation that America’s Test Kitchen paid Kimball and the people who left with him, and asks the court to prevent him and his new company “from exploiting information, assets and opportunities stolen from America’s Test Kitchen.” Lawyers are arguing that Kimball’s motivation to steal secrets from the show stemmed from when the board and investors pushed him out. In 2013, America’s Test Kitchen’s rating decreased dramatically, and the show responded by hiring a new set of employees. By 2015, a new CE whom outranked Kimball had taken over, and eventually he stopped showing up to work, telling his coworkers “he had been fired.” “Kimball, in an interview Wednesday, cautioned not to read too much into the allegations, saying most were false or twisted interpretations.” His legal team is preparing to go against these accusations, within this month. Hopefully, the truth will be revealed and both parties receive what they deserve.
Francesca is an accounting major at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University.
Posted by Paul Della Vecchia.
The recent Bloomberg article “Wal-Mart Balks at Paying $600-Million-Plus in Bribery Case” written by Tom Schoenberg and Matt Robinson, depicts a long standing bribery case Wal-Mart participated in. The article is dated October 6th, 2016. Wal-Mart is said to have been paying foreign officials in Mexico, India, and China. They did this to take a fast track into getting into those countries. A fast track is speeding up the process to start a business in a country, and it allows them to get their business permits. Wal-Mart reported sales of $482 billion, and $14 billion in profits. In this case alone, “Wal-Mart has already spent $791 million on legal fees and an internal investigation into the alleged payments and to revamp its compliance systems around the world, it said” (Schoenberg and Robinson). These legal fees are starting to add up as the investigation goes longer, but Wal-Mart is not looking to settle. To settle the case, it would be $600 million.
Bribing foreign officials is illegal under the 1977’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Wal-Mart tried to outsmart the system by “Calculating a fine based only on the amount of the alleged bribes, as the department has done in some cases, would yield a lower penalty, they said” (Schoenberg and Robinson). Companies are in the business of making money, and Wal-Mart looked at the pros and cons of this bribery. They believed that they would be able to actually make a profit off breaking the law, and to do that they ran calculations to see whether the fine would outweigh the benefit. Clearly it did not, because they were able to bribe their way to the top, and open more foreign companies. The case is so long standing, because the evidence the officials have is outdated. To work around this, the investigators are trying to look to more recent allocations of bribery from Wal-Mart in Brazil. As each day goes by, evidence becomes more outdated and less reliable. In 2011, “Wal-Mart disclosed possible violations in Mexico to the justice Department and SEC” (Schoenberg and Robinson). There wasn’t much done at the time, and now we fast forward to 2016 and that 5 year old evidence is not looking as clear. So the investigators are beginning to look elsewhere to try and solve this problem. The article also makes reference to attempts to find bribes in China, but to no avail.
Wal-Mart is looking to fight this case, because they are unsure what the criminal charges against them would be. If they decide to settle, the settlement “would rank among the highest levied under 1977’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” (Schoenberg and Robinson). The article relates the Wal-Mart case to the similar VimpelCom Ltd. and Siemens AG case. Both cases deal with bribing foreign officers to win business, and both settlements were higher than Wal-Mart. Judging the case off precedent and the increasing costs of legal fees, settlement should be a viable option for Wal-Mart. A company making $14 billion in profits should be able to sponge any damages done by their illegal acts. Wal-Mart does not want to settle, because they are unaware how it would affect their company. The timing is just not right at the moment to be spending the settlement costs, the article alludes to. “Wal-Mart said Thursday that net income for the year through January 2018 will be “relatively flat” as the company invests in its website and mobile app” (Schoenberg and Robinson). So if they have the option to clear their name and spend a little extra money or settle and have their brand slightly tarnished, they are going to fight for now. This way they are able to compete with Amazon in their work on their mobile app and website for online shopping.
Paul is an graduate accounting student with a concentration in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
Posted by Michael Del Piano.
When people hear the word CPA, they think of an accountant that is normally behind a desk working on some taxes. However, this was not the case for Ronald L. Durkin. Durkin was not your ordinary accountant. Instead, he was an FBI agent that was working undercover to establish a business relationship between a crime ring and Durkin’s fake accounting firm. Durkin came into the face of danger early on in his investigation. When he was undercover eating dinner with some of the criminals, he accidentally pulled out his personal credit card to pay the bill. Luckily for him, he was able to get out of it by yelling at the waiter and accusing him of incorrectly charging them. This would not be the last time that Durkin would find himself in danger. On another occasion, Durkin was on SWAT duty and engaged in a fire-fight. After a great carrier, Durkin left the FBI to work in the private sector. Durkin worked for Arthur Andersen and then later was the partner in charge of fraud and misconduct for investigation for KPMG.
Another individual that did not follow the traditional path of traditional accountant was Letha Sparks. Sparks is well-known for her work of investigating a $100 million fraud involving life insurance policies. A&O Resource Managements Ltd.’s owners did not pay the premiums on the life insurance policies. Instead, they used the money to buy fancy cars and multimillion dollar homes.
Generally, people do not see accountants as crime fighters. However, forensic accounting has been widely used to catch white collar criminals. Accounting is one of the five “FBI Special Agent Entry Programs” that qualify an individual for possible employment. In fact, the FBI employs around 700 CPAs as special agents. They even have 600 forensic accountants employed. Another interesting fact is that not all of these forensic accountants that work for the FBI are CPA’s.
CPA’s and accountants greatly help the FBI catch criminals. I personally believe that it is important to let other people know the different kinds of roles that accountants can play. You do not always have to follow the traditional path of accountants and sit behind a desk doing taxes. There are other options available and the world needs forensic accountants to help catch criminals.
Michael is a graduate student in accounting with a certification in forensic accounting at the Feliciano School of Business, Montclair State University, Class of 2017.
