Was it fraud, did you catch it, and how?
A recent Businessweek article discussed the craziest things employees tried to expense in 2012. Some of the strange items included live baby octopuses, deer urine and a trip for a job interview. These items are so outrageous, it is pretty easy to see why they were detected. Corporate purchasing cards have made it easier for employees to make purchases using organizational funds. One of the most interesting things I’ve seen has been charitable contributions to questionable organizations using the corporate purchasing card.
As the volume of transactions increase, so does the risk of undetected fraudulent purchases. How do you audit for corporate purchase card or accounts payable abuse? Many sizable audit functions use data analytics software such as IDEA or ACL. What about smaller functions who may not be able to afford software or have the expertise to utilize the software. Excel is decent good solution. Jean Louis has published a free guide to using Excel for Computer Assisted Auditing Techniques (cAATs). You can view and/or download it at AuditorExchange.com.
