acct 630 midterm exam

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Buy here: http://theperfecthomework.com/acct-630-midterm-exam/ 1) You are an internal auditor for a large firm and received a tip through the firm's hotline that a senior sales representative appears to be living beyond her means. You have reviewed their company personnel file and searched available public information to gather the following data about the potential fraud suspect. Do a net worth analysis on these data and show your calculations. I have also attached a spreadsheet file to the assignment that contains these data in case you would like to use Excel to do your calculations. You can either show your calculations in a table in this Word document or attach a spreadsheet file with your calculations to the assignment. If you do submit a spreadsheet file, name it with your own name and "Q1," e.g., "Jim Peters Q1." 1) Read the following scenario and answer the questions that follows it. Bob was recently hired by a systems implementation consulting firm that helped clients implement new comprehensive information systems to support all aspects of their businesses. When Bob was first hired, he went through weeks of training to help him understand the firm's methods, technology, and culture. The firm looked for people with the right aptitude who had demonstrated a record of success in previous school, work, or extracurricular activities. They found that this type of person worked out best for the type of work the firm was paid to do. Bob's first project involved helping a client implement Oracle, a major, integrated commercial database application that usually costs several million dollars to purchase and implement. Bob was not trained in Oracle and found out that he was replacing two managers who were just removed from the project. The project was running over budget so the firm looked for ways to get the work done less expensively. Bob, who billed out the lower "consultant's" rate (instead of the "manager's" rate), was a cheap solution, although it would be tough sell to the client. They liked the previous managers and felt comfortable with their skill level. Because of the demand for the Oracle experts, Bob's firm could charge Bob's time at a billing rate $200/hour - expensive, but less than the client paying for the managers.

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Buy here: http://theperfecthomework.com/acct-630-midterm-exam/ 1) You are an internal auditor for a large firm and received a tip through the firm's hotline that a

senior sales representative appears to be living beyond her means. You have reviewed their

company personnel file and searched available public information to gather the following data

about the potential fraud suspect. Do a net worth analysis on these data and show your

calculations. I have also attached a spreadsheet file to the assignment that contains these data

in case you would like to use Excel to do your calculations. You can either show your

calculations in a table in this Word document or attach a spreadsheet file with your calculations

to the assignment. If you do submit a spreadsheet file, name it with your own name and "Q1,"

e.g., "Jim Peters Q1."

1) Read the following scenario and answer the questions that follows it.

Bob was recently hired by a systems implementation consulting firm that helped clients

implement new comprehensive information systems to support all aspects of their businesses.

When Bob was first hired, he went through weeks of training to help him understand the firm's

methods, technology, and culture. The firm looked for people with the right aptitude who had

demonstrated a record of success in previous school, work, or extracurricular activities. They

found that this type of person worked out best for the type of work the firm was paid to do.

Bob's first project involved helping a client implement Oracle, a major, integrated commercial

database application that usually costs several million dollars to purchase and implement. Bob

was not trained in Oracle and found out that he was replacing two managers who were just

removed from the project. The project was running over budget so the firm looked for ways to

get the work done less expensively. Bob, who billed out the lower "consultant's" rate (instead of

the "manager's" rate), was a cheap solution, although it would be tough sell to the client. They

liked the previous managers and felt comfortable with their skill level. Because of the demand for

the Oracle experts, Bob's firm could charge Bob's time at a billing rate $200/hour - expensive, but

less than the client paying for the managers.

During the first day on the job, Bob's manager took him out to lunch to give him "the scoop" on

the project and what he would be expecting from Bob. "Bob, this is going to be a very difficult

assignment. You've replaced two skilled managers who the client liked. I know you haven't

been trained on, or actually even seen Oracle before, but you're smart and can come up to

speed quickly. I had to tell the client you were an expert in the software in order for them to

agree to bring you on. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me but definitely don't

look stupid or seem like you don't know what you're doing in front of the client. The client will be

skeptical of you at first, but be confident and you'll win them over. I think the transition will

smooth out quickly. See me if you have any questions. "

Bob was scared to death; but what was he to do? He had to get to work. His immediate tasks

were to map out the processes for the client's purchasing and sales operations. This involved

interviewing managers and looking around the purchasing and warehousing operations and well

as the sales and collections operations. Here are some interesting things he found as he did his

work.

Purchasing operations. The head of purchasing was a handsome gentleman named Steve.

Steve was very different from any other employee who Bob encountered while at the client. He

wore expensive suits to work and liked to talk about his clothes with colleagues. He also drove

the latest model BMW and would take the other consultants on the project for rides during lunch.

Bob thought this odd because he didn't think a purchasing manager at this company made

enough money to have these luxuries. Steve also took his relationships with "his" vendors very

seriously. He would spend lots of time "understanding who they were." Some days, Steve was

very supportive of Bob's work but on other days he would seem disinterested and even

combative with Bob.

When Bob informally inquired about Steve's behavior with other employees in the purchasing

department, he was told the Steve had worked for the firm for over 20 years and probably had

accumulated substantial savings and assets. In addition, Bob was told that Steve was a very

dedicated worker and never took vacations. Since the client firm had a policy of paying

employees for unused vacation time, the fact that Steve didn't take vacations would have

boosted his income. However, his co-workers stated that they wished Steve would take some

vacations because they believed that the lack of a break was probably causing his mood swings.

Sales operation. Jessica was the manager of the Sales Department. She was not college

educated but had a lot of "street smarts." She also was a stressed out single mom struggling to

give her kids the things they needed.

Jessica was cooperative with Bob during the course of their interactions. However, Bob noticed

how periodically there would be huge returns that were stacked nearly to the ceiling in the

warehouse. When Bob inquired about these periodic huge returns, Jessica told him that

sometimes they would ship orders to customers based on past purchasing habits even though

the customer had not recently placed an order. As it turns out, when the customers saw a

delivery at their door someone would just assume they had placed an order and would keep it.

However, other customers would quickly return the supplies. "Was that a good business

practice?" Bob inquired. "Well, we have to make our numbers at quarter's end. You have to do

what you have to do," Jessica replied.

a) For each of the following situations in the case, discuss whether the activities

mentioned constitute fraud or not. Use all the elements of fraud described in Chapter 1 to

supporting your answers.

b)Discuss any and all possible fraud symptoms illustrated by Steve's behavior and how

the behaviors might indicate fraud. In linking the behavior to a possible fraud symptom,

include a discussion of which element of the Fraud Motivation Triangle might be involved.

1) You recently took over as teller for a large regional bank. You are not happy with

the job because you felt you were qualified to be a head cashier. You have an MBA and

some work experience in banking. However, the bank that hired you strongly believes in

promoting from within and wants you to "pay your dues" by working your way up through

the ranks.

You want to rip off the bank to get even and to give you some extra cash to buy a new car

you have been wanting for a while. However, to conceal your thefts you will need to help

of bank's head cashier. The head cashier reconciles the cash transactions for each teller

at the beginning of each day. The head cashier reports directly to the bank's branch

manager while you report to the head cashier.

Review each of the five sources of power from the text and the six methods of persuasion

covered in the article you reviewed and discuss whether or not each of these possible

tools to influence the bookkeeper might be useful to you. If you don't think they would be

useful, explain why. If you think they would be useful, explain how you would use them.

Clearly label each tool so you are clear which one you are covering.

1) Review the following case and then fill out the Vulnerability Chart on the page following

the case.

Identity theft is a major problem for most individuals these days. The following is a description of

an actual case that illustrates how fraudsters can use identify theft to make millions of dollars.

The fraud began when Shelia Pastore developed a plan to steal and sell people's personal

information. Shelia had begun to work at a third-party credit-reporting agency that facilitated the

retrieval of credit history data. The firm had outstanding contracts with thousands of companies,

allowing these companies to check on the creditworthiness of potential customers, thus creating

a direct line past the three main credit bureaus. As a customer service representative, Shelia

had obtained access to many confidential access codes used by the firm's clients to gain

approval on credit requests. That is, each client had an access code that allowed it to use the

firm's resources to pull credit reports on individuals.

In early 2010, Shelia began to steal credit reports. She sold this information to members of the

Russian mafia. The Russians would pay up to $75 for one person's information. After some

time, the Russians began to target specific people by providing the two fraudsters with names

and Social Security numbers of people for whom they wanted credit reports.

The Russians would use the information to gain access to the victim's bank accounts and other

financial information. The Russians would then take one of more of the following steps with an

individual's bank account and credit card information:

● Deplete the bank accounts of the victims through wire transfers. ● Change the addresses of the accounts so the current information was not sent to the

victim. ● Order new checks to be written against of the victim's bank accounts. ● Order new ATM cards so the money could be taken out in cash. ● Order new credit cards under the victim's name. ● Establish new lines of credit under the victim's name

The most intriguing aspect of the fraud was that Shelia quit working for the firm in early 2011, but

was able to continue to steal the information for an additional two years. Shelia claimed that

most of the access codes she had stolen while working at the firm remained unchanged for the

full two years after she left the company.

Finally, in early 2013, Shelia began to get greedy and her greed led to the detection of fraud.

Perceiving that she needed to make more money, Shelia stole around 15,000 credit reports from

the firm by using the access codes of General Motors. Then from February 2013 to May 2013,

Shelia again stole a large number of names. This time, Shelia used the access codes of Citibank

to steal 6,000 credit reports. Finally, in September 2013, Shelia made what would be his last big

credit report theft. Using the access codes of Comcast, Shelia was able to steal 4,500 credit

reports.

After the theft using Ford's access codes, Equifax, one of the three large credit bureaus in the

United States, began to see the request spikes in GM's account. After the next two large

batches of requests, Equifax decided to investigate further. Equifax found that almost all of the

credit report requests came from computer IP address, and that the requests were done in large

batches of about 100. The location of the IP address was found and a search by federal

authorities turned up a computer and other equipment that were used in the fraud.

Requirement - Fill in the following fraud vulnerability matrix for the fraud Shelia and Jake were

perpetrating. Keep in mind that a vulnerability chart is designed to lay out as many alternatives

as possible in each column and not just report the ones cited in the case. A fraud examiner

would create a vulnerability chart at an early stage in the investigation and would not know things

like who the perpetrator was or how they perpetrated the fraud.

1) You are an internal auditor for a dental insurance company. The firm processes claims

for dental services from dentists' offices; determines their validity; and approves or disapproves

the claims. You have received a tip from one of the dentists that your company regularly does

business with that some dentists may be submitting fraudulent claims to your firm. You decided

to review claims activity and had your IT department prepare the Dental Data.xlsx data file for

you to review, which is attached to this assignment in LEO. It contains three worksheets. The

Patient worksheet lists patients unique IDs and their addresses. The Dentists worksheet lists the

dental offices that have filed claims and their address. The Dental Claims worksheet lists all the

dental claims your firm approved for a three-month period in 2013.

You need to review the data in the file and see if you can detect any fraud symptoms. I don't

expect you to be Excel experts and so limit your search to things that you can accomplish by

merely sorting the data in the various worksheets in various ways. However, if you have access

to more powerful software like ACL, feel free to use it.

To help you in the task, here is a description of basic features of a typical dental office.

● Dental offices must have a physical presence to treat patients. Thus, a real dental office usually has a street address.

● Each dentist office sequentially numbers their own claim forms. However, dentist deal with a variety of insurance companies. Thus, the claim numbers from a given dentist to one insurance company should not be sequential unless that dentist office bills the same insurance company for several different patients in a row, which is unusual.

● There is a natural limit to how much dental work is normally done on a single patient within a three-month period. Because of the discomfort involved with dental work, patients normally spread how multiple procedures over time. Also, dentists spread the procedures out over time so that the patient can recover from one procedure before they start the next. For example, a dentist would not fill two teeth on opposites of the mouth at the same time so that the patient can chew food on one side while the

other recovers. While multiple procedures can be done at once, the number is still limited. Generally, very few patients would have more than a dozen dental procedures done in a three-month period.

● Patients tend to use dental offices near their home. I don't want you to try to do a detailed analysis of the patient and dentists' addresses because that would be too labor intensive, but you can scan the files for out-of-state patients.

Required - List any fraud symptoms your find and explain why they are a fraud symptom.

However, these are just symptoms and not evidence. Therefore, I also want you to discuss how

strong a symptom you think each one is and discuss non-fraud alternative explanation for the

patterns you spot. If you believe the symptom is so extreme that there couldn't be a legitimate

alternative explanation, explain this as well.

Frauds can be perpetrated in a rich variety of ways. Some frauds may involve a few, large

transactions (i.e., infrequent or a needle in a haystack) and other may involve many small

transactions over time (i.e., ongoing). Thus, there isn't one best analytical tool for detecting

fraud. For each of the following analytical techniques, discuss whether it would be appropriate to

apply to the insurance case in question 5 and explain why or why not. You are not limited to just

the raw data on which you did the analysis, but also can consider other tools that might help

detect fraudulent claims processed by the insurance company. If you believe the technique

would be appropriate, explain how you would apply it to specific fields in the data