Valuation & Litigation Advisory Blog

If this has ever happened to you then you know first hand how traumatic the loss can be.  The loss of cash. No credit cards. I can’t make debit card purchases.  Not my driver’s license!  Oh no, and the social security card??  Not my child’s baby pictures??? My paycheck? And the list goes on and on.   Think for a minute what you think is in your wallet.  Here one minute, gone the next.

I know first hand as I’ve been carjacked and lost my wallet and recently a family member had her wallet fall into...

Corporate downsizing compromises internal controls. 9% unemployment. Record residential foreclosures. 50% of marriages are failing.  Employees are facing increased pressure of addressing increased healthcare costs and the costs associated with taking care of aging parents. And yet, there are still many others that fantasize about what it would be like to live the life of the “rich and famous.” For business owners, today’s work environment is a challenging one.

As a result of many pressures, at...

Residents should be on the lookout for anyone soliciting them that “there is a little known loophole that allows them to release their own residential mortgage.”  Residents may be duped in person or know of someone that has paid for such mortgage relief assistance. This is not a telephone scam. 

An individual has shared with me just how he can save people from foreclosure and further advised that he will be filing such documents in the future as he has several clients waiting for his services....

Fraud and embezzlement cost local organizations millions of dollars annually. Consistent with national trends, organizations with fewer than 100 employees are the primary targets.

And, nationally and locally, there is an increase in financial crimes in which people are colluding with internal or external partners.

Cooperation increases their chances of success, because collusion cases are more difficult to detect, as the perpetrators tend to be more creative than those who work solo. But, they...

Identify theft crimes are not going away any time soon.  Actually, the identity theft criminals are becoming more creative as society slowly responds to the traditional identity theft schemes.

The latest identity fraud targets minors – our children.  Specifically, our childrens' social security numbers.  

Selling social security numbers is a business, albeit an illegal one. It exists throughout the US.  Buyers historically are individuals in the US illegally that need to be “legitimate” or those...

Haven’t you heard enough lately about companies losing your personal information, having their data bases systems hacked into or worse selling it to people they later found out to be criminals? You can do your part to monitor your credit – and it’s free.

All Ohioans are eligible to receive one free credit report from each of the three major credit-reporting bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian).

It is recommended that everyone obtain their free copy from each of the three reporting bureaus...

“Corporate Vigilance in Desperate Times” was the title of a presentation I made to a group of corporate controllers on behalf of the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

It’s hard not to pick up a newspaper these days and see dismal economic results. The next article discusses employee layoffs. “Happy Days Are Here Again” will not be heard on your car radio on the way home. And once home, chances are that you don’t want to look at your stock portfolio or 401k statement that came in the...

In a world full of scams and frauds, there is currently a new one that is targeting unsuspecting Ohio business owners.

The mail solicitation which has been received by some of our clients is being initiated by a Company “Ohio Corporate Compliance” of Columbus, OH.  The official looking letterhead and form design has led some to believe that completing the form is required by law.  The solicitation involves advising businesses that they must maintain corporate minutes (which is true). 

For $150,...

At last fall’s OSCPA Accounting Show, I addressed a breakout group of several hundred participants on the results of the 2008 American Institute of Certified Fraud Examiners (AICFE) Report to the Nation.

One of the more surprising highlights of my talk was the fact that, according to the Report, the most common fraud scheme was corruption.  Corruption is more commonly associated with conflicts of interest, bribery, kickbacks, bid rigging, illegal gratuities, and even extortion.

Aside from the...

In conjunction with providing forensic recommendations to minimize theft of corporate assets, we have made security recommendations to clients in an effort to assist them with minimizing the risk of loss associated with the common thief.  See, a lot of people either don’t think with a criminal mind - or see such glaring weaknesses - or else they think it simply just can’t happen to them (much like being the victim of a white collar crime).

What happens if the thief poses as a maintenance person,...