A Look Inside: ACFE Asia-Pacific Conference offers speakers with stories you could only imagine

AUTHOR’S POST

Mandy Moody, CFE
ACFE Social Media Specialist

I am not going to lie; I often like to think of my life as a long, dramatic Hollywood movie (key word: think). At times, it feels like a drama (thanks to my two-year old). Other times it feels like a comedy (I am known to tell a few jokes at the expense of my friends and family). And, on the rare occasion, it feels like an incredible tragedy (a missed promotion, the loss of a friend, the realization that I cannot be “Mom of the Year” all of the time). But, for me these genres are just examples of the way my life feels; not how it is. For Michael Woodford, former Olympus CEO and whistleblower, his life over the past five years actually is like (and will soon be) a blockbuster movie. His story of exposing a $1.7 billion fraud with rumored connections to the Japanese mafia sounds like a Hollywood thriller, a thriller he will share during his keynote address at the upcoming 2014 ACFE Asia-Pacific Fraud Conference in Hong Kong, November 16-18. Hear a clip below from Woodford speaking at the ACFE Global Fraud Conference in 2012.

Woodford, however, will not be the only speaker giving an inside look at his life. Below is the full list of speakers telling their stories:

• Michael Woodford, Olympus Whistleblower, UK
  After 30 years with Olympus, Woodford confronted its Board of Directors on multiple occasions asking for answers to financial discrepancies and even delivered a commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers investigation report. He was abruptly fired Oct. 14, 2011, by the company’s executive board because of what the board cited as a “management culture clash.” Just one month later, Olympus officials publicly admitted to the U.S. FBI and UK Serious Fraud Office to having paid fraudulent advisory fees in a decade-long cover up valuing $1.7 billion. 
• Albert Hui, CISA, CISM GCFA, GCFE, Principal Consultant, Security Ronin, Hong Kong
  Having spent years breaking and protecting information technology systems for investment banks and government and national critical infrastructures, Hui is an expert on high-sensitivity mission-critical systems security.
• David Barboza, Correspondent, The New York Times, China
  In 2013, Barboza was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting “for his striking exposure of corruption at high levels of the Chinese government, including billions in secret wealth owned by relatives of the prime minister, well documented work published in the face of heavy pressure from the Chinese officials.”
• Paul Chung, Deputy Head of the Financial Investigations Division of Narcotics Bureau, Hong Kong Police, Hong Kong
  Chung is an AML expert with more than 15 years of experience on financial investigation and financial intelligence handling. He also has experience in handling complex fraud investigation, including boiler room fraud, franchise fraud, LC fraud, instalment fraud and insurance fraud.
• D. Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, CVA, Vice President and Program Director, ACFE
  Dorris is the Vice President and Program Director for the ACFE. As an Assistant District Attorney for the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office in Shreveport, La., Dorris created and was the Director of its Financial Crimes Screening Section. He has testified numerous times before legislative committees and was a frequent lecturer with prosecutor and accountant training associations.

You can find more information about the 2014 ACFE Asia-Pacific Fraud Conference at ACFE.com/AsiaPac. Early registration ends tomorrow!

The View from ACFE Japan on the Olympus Fraud Case

GUEST BLOGGER

Daisuke Wakiyama, CFE
President and CEO, D-Quest Inc., Vice President, ACFE Japan

The Olympus fraud case was and remains a very serious problem. Not only does it raise doubts about the transparency and soundness of the Japanese market, but it also raises questions about the reliability of the Japanese themselves. What’s devastating is not just the amount of money involved, but also the duration of the fraud -- and the fact that the whistleblower was not Japanese, but British.

Some may think, “A Japanese person would take part in fraud, but a British person would not” or, “A British CEO revealed fraud; a Japanese person could not do so.” This impression may stir a sense of distrust of the very character of all Japanese.

As you may be aware, Olympus, the global manufacturer of medical equipment with a market share exceeding 70 percent, avoided being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange despite its concealment of a 100 billion yen loss. Based on the extended period of this concealment, the soundness of the company’s structure is naturally cast into question. People in and outside of Japan may look upon Olympus’ survival optimistically, but has market confidence been truly secured?

This is not something we can overlook as an isolated incident. Yet, we must keep in mind that this is a serious issue involving one company, rather than a sign of the deficient moral fabric of the nation itself and the corporate ethics/governance that shapes everything around it. We must remain vigilant to identify trends that may compromise accountability.

The interest in Olympus’ former CEO Michael Woodford may fade, but we can’t deceive ourselves into thinking that the story is over in the eyes of the world economy. Japan overall is a first-rate, advanced nation, but without a strong economy, Japan may indeed slip into the status of second-rate nationhood.

In the midst of an economic downturn, the eradication of the fraud undermining our nation and companies is critical to the structuring of a robust securities and capital market for efficient corporate activity. Amid such challenges ACFE Japan has many roles to fill and we are up to the challenge.