Forensic

April is National Financial Literacy Month. While numerous organizations promote various aspects of financial literacy, I want to share what this means to me in the context of my work as a forensic accountant.

February 1 – 5, 2021 is Identity Theft Awareness Week, and SobelCo wants to share some timely tips on recognizing and avoiding this insidious type of fraud that has been particularly widespread during the pandemic, and was the second most-reported consumer complaint submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) through the third quarter of 2020, with more than 900,000 complaints.[1]

November 15 – 21, 2020 is International Fraud Awareness Week.  SobelCo is a supporting organization, so we are posting useful fraud-related information throughout the month of November!

Our colleague, Megan Kelly, wrote about the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2020 Report to the Nations, a global study on occupational fraud and abuse in a recent article. Megan shared important information about the types of occupational fraud, characteristics of perpetrators and victims, and methods of detection.

Both the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have issued recent advisories concerning ransomware payments.[1]

Every October for the past 17 years, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) have campaigned across the nation to provide cybersecurity resources to help all Americans be safe online.  This year their theme is “Do Your Part.  #BeCyberSmart.”

As the pandemic continues to cause havoc in everyone’s day to day life, financial survival is driving many decisions at all levels of society.  This is true with individuals as well as in government. As consumer spending remains much lower than usual, government tax collections are also much lower. Among the many different types of government funding, one is the collection of property taxes. Bear in mind that different taxing authorities include different categories of assets when applying their tax rates. This means that not all types of assets are subject to tax.

The Labor Department’s latest jobless claims report showed that employees are still losing their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as another 1.5 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment this week. This is the thirteenth consecutive week that jobless claims have stayed above one million, and the 1.5 million number is higher than the 1.3 million jobless claims that economists had been anticipating.

I was recently a panelist for a webinar on Cybersecurity and Fraud Vulnerability during COVID-19. Many audience members owned or worked for small businesses, and were overwhelmed by the scope and scale of the risks the panel discussed. They didn’t know where to even start the process of addressing such risks. They wondered how a small business should approach the management and mitigation of cybersecurity and fraud risks without the sophisticated systems and financial means of larger companies.

The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), established by the CARES Act, is a Small Business Association (“SBA”) loan intended to help businesses with 500 or fewer employees keep their workforce employed during the COVID-19 crisis. Congress initially allocated $349 billion to the program in the first stimulus package, and added an additional $310 billion in April.

The words “Cyber Attack” bring chills to everyone who has ever had to face the dreaded circumstances of having their systems compromised. Whether it is confidential financial data, social security numbers, or passwords, it strikes fear – and for good reason. A shut down along with a demand for ransom further complicates the situation.

But did you know it isn’t just your desk top or lap top that be hacked?