Fraud and Corruption Know No Borders

PRESIDENT'S BLOG

James D. Ratley, CFE

ACFE President and CEO

Reaching out internationally

For more than 20 years I’ve crossed the Pacific Ocean to forge new friendships and renew old ones. Back in the late 1980s, ACFE Chairman Dr. Joseph T. Wells and I began to personally offer the ACFE’s technical know-how to fraud fighters in other nations.

We knew fraud was a worldwide problem. But we weren’t sure what kind of response to expect in each country we visited. Dr. Wells covered North America and Europe, while I headed south and west. In the more than 20 nations we initially visited, fraud fighters welcomed us and set up ACFE chapters.

To support our new colleagues abroad, the ACFE had to grow at home. We therefore increased our staff to keep pace with members’ professional and educational needs. Over the years, this has produced results that all CFEs can be proud of. Today there are 140 ACFE chapters in 41 countries — a thriving, global association of anti-fraud professionals.

Join us in Singapore

Sly fraudsters are continually re-inventing known schemes, disguising their telltale red flags and making them harder to detect and prevent. There’s only one effective response to such tactics: state-of-the-art CPE and top-quality professional networking. CFEs around the world have come to expect no less from the ACFE, and we have not disappointed them. Following the all-time attendance record set at the 22nd ACFE Annual Fraud Conference in San Diego in June, we’re not skipping a beat.

October 23-25, the 2011 ACFE Asia-Pacific Fraud Conference will welcome fraud fighters to the architecturally stunning Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore. This small but economically powerful city-state was ranked by the World Bank as the most business-friendly nation in 2010 and 2011. You won’t find a better place to meet new business partners.

Attendees will benefit from a diverse array of program sessions. You’ll gather cutting-edge anti-fraud tools and techniques for use your first day back on the job. Among other topics, speakers will address intellectual property theft, managing corporate fraud risk, refocusing traditional auditors on detecting fraud, trends in enforcement of laws against bribery and corruption, and financial statement fraud by Chinese companies at home and abroad.

Spanning the world

Following the Singapore conference, I’ll visit steadily growing ACFE chapters in Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Shanghai.

You may not have the time or resources to visit other countries where your employer or clients do business and are exposed to fraud risk. But the ACFE’s international conferences bring together CFEs from different lands, making it easy to share information and develop relationships that broaden our anti-fraud skills and knowledge. The ACFE is committed to fostering such professional bonds among all the nations its members serve.

If you’re based in or plan to visit the Asia-Pacific region, I hope to see you in Singapore.