Tag Archives: fraud

Cooperatives, Education

Dec 7 Webinar: Common Fraud Schemes Facing Small Businesses

Leave a comment
Event Image

Just wanted to share an upcoming webinar I’ll be attending — it’s free to NSAC members and $56 for non-members.

With the pandemic challenging traditional business processes and procedures, companies and their management are having to adapt to more electronic processes and different forms of communication. Fraudsters are mirroring these adaptations with ways of getting business information and how they execute their fraud schemes. We’ll discuss the most relevant fraud schemes affecting small businesses in this new business environment.

Presenter and Moderator Bios

Jessica Yohe, CPA, CFE, Bauknight Pietras & Stormer
Jessica is an audit supervisor at Bauknight Pietras and Stormer, P.A. (“BPS”) where she provides leadership to the teams she works with and maintains strong client communications. Jessica serves clients across multiple industries including telecommunications, manufacturing, distribution, property and casualty insurance, and fraud/forensic engagements. During her time at BPS, Jessica has taught continuing education seminars on topics such as Fraud Considerations for Auditors, Audit Considerations for Investments, and Audit Considerations in the Wake of COVID19.

Bill Erlenbush, CPA, NSAC Director of Education
Bill Erlenbush spent his entire career working in cooperative accounting at GROWMARK. His work experience includes all aspects of order control and billing, accounts receivable/payable, financial accounting, and tax. As compliance officer, he had responsibility for the administration of the compliance and ethics program at GROWMARK and its subsidiaries and retail divisions. In addition, he was been involved in negotiating major acquisitions for GROWMARK. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Illinois State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant. Bill is an active member in many industry, professional, and community organizations. He is past president of the Mclean County United Way Board of Directors as well as the past president of the Heartland Community College Foundation Board of Directors.

Cost
Free for NSAC Members / $56.00 for Non-Members

Register here — Common Fraud Schemes Facing Small Businesses Today – NSAC Cooperative Learning Network (nsacoop.org)

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Cooperatives, Education, Tips

Upcoming NSAC Webinars For Small Biz & Co-op Accountants

Leave a comment

I get a great deal of value from my annual membership with the National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives, and one of the most valuable benefits is free access to their Cooperative Learning Network — “webinars that provide easy access to presentations, panel discussions and conversations by leading experts and fellow members on a variety of topics and issues important to those in the cooperative world”. (I would argue that any small business consultant will get great value from these — not just those who work with co-ops.) However, you can take these classes as a non-member as well, for a small fee (usually $56), which includes CPE credit. They are usually well worth it, as there are some topics that they cover, such as small business fraud and preparing for a third-party audit, that no other accounting/bookkeeping membership organization seems to do quite as well.

I mention this because they have a great line-up of CLNs in the next few months and I wanted to highlight some of them:

More information here:
https://nsacoop.org/events/financial-forecasting

More information here:
https://nsacoop.org/events/inside-mind-auditor

More information here:
https://nsacoop.org/events/common-fraud-schemes-facing-small-businesses-today

For those out there considering expanding your scope to include cooperatives, I strongly encourage it, as there are simply not enough co-op bookkeepers and accountants out there to fill the need; cooperatives are one of the fastest-growing segments of the small business population and we need your help to keep them on solid financial footing. NSAC offers Basic and Advanced Cooperative Accounting Seminars — training in the core concepts unique to working for or with cooperatives such as equity management, tax planning and risk management.

I’ll be attending all three of the above webinars and hope to “see” you there!

If this or any other posts on the website were useful to you, and your financial situation permits it, please consider contributing to my tip jar. Ths allows me to continue to provide free accounting resources to small businesses who do not have the funds available to hire a CPA.

Cooperatives, Education, Tips

NSAC Webinar on Internal Controls – Jan 30

Leave a comment

Wanted to give you a heads-up on a January 30th webinar offered through National Society of Accountants for Cooperatives‘ Cooperative Learning Network. (You do not have to be a member to attend.)

I took a webinar a couple of months ago through NSAC by this same presenter, Steve Dawson of Dawson Forensics. I found his style to be approachable and friendly, and the information useful and applicable to all small businesses, not just cooperatives. He even kindly took the time to speak with me afterwards when I emailed to ask for some follow-up information, and offered his time gratis to a client with a time-sensitive question. Clearly he is passionate about helping others in the field.

This upcoming 1-hour webinar (which I will also be attending) seems like something that would be useful for any small business that has grown enough that it has a need for internal controls, but does not know which ones or how to implement them — as well as for accounting and bookkeeping professionals who would like to assist their small business clients in this area. I am eager to hear actual case examples as illustrations of what went wrong and what could have been done to prevent the issues in the first place.

This session focuses on the most common types of internal fraud occurring in Cooperatives. Actual case occurrences serve as the backdrop for presenting what went wrong, the lack of or failure of internal controls, and what can be implemented now to alleviate these types of occurrences in the future.

Source: NSAC Cooperative Learning Network – Internal Controls- Closing the Barn Door before the Cows get out!