Registration is Currently Closed
Join us for our Fall Seminar at Maggiano's in Austin and earn 8 hours of CPE. We have also included two hours of ethics so you can meet the ACFE's ethics requirement for the year!
Topics:
Detecting Deception During Interviews
The first session is designed to take some of the mystery out of how a person can detect deception by understanding why and how verbal and non-verbal communication changes when a person lies. The second session will involve the class and illustrate that the first session’s concepts are true and effective. The goal is to “cement” in the attendees’ minds that they can depend on what they see and hear to be indicative of deception.
Ethics
Since the turn of the millennium, the global economy has been shaken by extraordinary and avoidable financial scandals. In the wake of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and several other major financial scandals, the U.S. Congress enacted the Public Company Accounting Report and Investor Protection Act of 2002 (SOX). SOX is widely argued to be the most important piece of security legislation since the Securities and Exchange Commission was created in 1934. SOX created unprecedented legal protections for corporate whistleblowers in order to deal with the “corporate code of silence” by encouraging individuals to report questionable accounting and auditing matters.
SOX has been with us for nearly 15 years and it is time to take a look back at the effectiveness of this important regulatory change and ask whether or not SOX has been effective; especially in light of the events leading to the financial crisis of 2008. In order to evaluate whether or not SOX was effective, we will discuss whether or not it has: (1) encouraged employees to report misconduct, (2) protected employees who report from retaliation, and (3) been effective at preventing financial fraud and protecting the investing public? In order to answer these questions, we will discuss the key provisions of SOX by recounting the significant events involving the landmark case of Menendez v. Halliburton in order to bring awareness regarding the protections and potential outcomes of decisions individuals may make regarding the reporting of questionable accounting practices.
Fraud Investigation From a Private Detective's Perspective
Interactive Case study: Follow the money to prove fraud and embezzlement in a charitable organization. Learn how the Audit Report in accounting software can be used to make your case. How to report your findings and make recommendations to the client on how to improve their system to avoid problems in the future.
Advances in Financial Investigation using Software. From financial fraud tracing to divorce tracing, to effectively follow the money, you must analyze cash on hand, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and credit cards, This requires the management of documents in the form of reams of paper or Giga bites of computer files. Learn to manage your case through the establishment of a file structure, naming conventions, report formats and how to share files through Dropbox or Sharefile with your client.
Agenda:
- 8:00 - 8:30 - Registration
- 8:30 - 10:10 - Detecting Deception During Interviews (part 1)
- 10:10 - 10:20 - Break
- 10:20 - 12:00 - Ethics
- 12:00 - 1:00 - Lunch served by Maggiano's
- 1:00 - 2:40 - Fraud Investigations From a Private Detective's Perspective
- 2:40 - 2:50 - Break
- 2:50 - 4:30 - Detecting Deception During Interviews (part 2)
Registration Prices
Chapter Members: $150.00
Non-Members: $200.00
Registration includes a lunch service.
About the Speakers
Dennis Parker
Dennis Parker works for a medium size insurance company tasked with finding and investigating indications of internal fraud. He has also worked for 3 different insurance carriers managing Special Investigation Units for 10 years in Texas, surrounding states and California. Dennis also worked for 3 different software companies as their insurance fraud subject matter expert and 15 years ago designed and helped market the very first application used to find property and casualty insurance fraud.
Dennis has 18 years of experience as a policeman and investigator both in Texas and the federal government. He has interviewed more than 1500 people in adversarial conditions, often with their attorney present and intent on defeating the interview process. Dennis teaches classes to criminal justice professionals about 2 - 3 times a year including police departments, probation officers, children's and adult protective services and auditors.
Tony Menendez, CPA, CFE
Best known as the “Accountant Who Beat Halliburton,” Anthony Menendez is widely recognized for his decade-long legal battle with Halliburton as a corporate whistleblower under Sarbanes-Oxley. Despite having no formal legal training, he represented himself during the appeals process and ultimately prevailed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling has had a positive impact on that body of law and has resulted in significantly increased protections for corporate whistleblowers. Menendez was honored in recognition of ethical leadership, integrity, and distinguished service in the public interest with both the ACFE Sentinel Award and the Accounting in the Public Interest Award from Loyola Marymount University Center for Accounting Ethics, Governance, and the Public Interest. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, ProPublica, National Public Radio’s Marketplace and the ACFE’s Fraud Magazine and often lectures at prominent universities and organizations related to the topics of accounting, whistleblowing, corporate compliance, and business ethics.
For more than two decades he has been identifying, researching, and resolving complex accounting and business transactions. Menendez is both a CPA and a CFE and an expert in financial accounting and reporting. He has provided seminars and workshops to professionals across the globe covering U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting rules. He is a former top controller at General Motors and oversaw the accounting and reporting for more than $100 billion in annual revenues. He also played a key role in GM’s historic effort to emerge from bankruptcy and successfully complete one of the largest IPO’s in history. Prior to GM, as a forensic consulting expert, he worked with attorneys representing shareholders in complex nationally litigated cases involving allegations of improper financial reporting and auditing. He is also a former audit executive with Ernst & Young where he focused on entrepreneurial and emerging growth companies across various industries and helped them navigate differing stages in the IPO journey and post-IPO environment. He recently launched his own consulting practice to assist attorneys representing shareholders and corporate whistleblowers in disputes involving allegations of improper accounting, auditing, and federal securities law violations.
Edmond (Ed) Martin, CFE
Ed Martin earned his accounting degree from Southeastern Louisiana College (now the University of Southeastern Louisiana). Martin was trained as a federal Special Agent and was part of the team that investigated and tried District Attorney, Jim Garrison and the New Orleans Police Department for public bribery. Martin moved to Austin as part of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. One of Martin’s primary cases with the IRS was the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O’Hair and her two adult children.
Martin now runs Sage Investigations, LLC, a private investigation and consulting firm in Texas. Cases include civil plaintiff and defense for individuals, businesses, government entities, expert witness testimony, asset searches, and criminal defense in Federal income tax and money laundering cases.
Ed is a CFE and was the first President of the first Austin ACFE Chapter. He’s also been on the Discovery series “Disappeared.” He received the Meritorious Service Award for Investigative Excellence from the Texas Association of Licensed Investigators (TALI) and, in 2016, was chosen “Fraud Investigator of 2015” by Wealth and Finance Magazine International.
Jason Slick, CFE
Jason graduated from Texas State University with a major in Mathematics and a minor Computer Science. He has worked as webmaster for (among others) Cirrus Logic and Telescan Inc. Jason excels at designing and coding complicated user interface systems that help people easily access data and digital content.
Jason was hired by Sage Investigations in 2005 to create the firm’s proprietary Fraud Examination software, Sage DIO. Jason has adapted himself to fit into the Forensic Accounting Investigation world. Jason’s CFE credential and knowledge of computer systems, databases, data sets and financial evidence have made him the “go to expert” for large complicated investigations from multi-million dollar Ponzi schemes to complex business frauds.
Program Level: Basic
Prerequisites: None
Advanced Preparation: None required
Location
Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant
10910 Domain Dr #100, Austin, TX 78759
From MoPac and Braker Lane, turn East on Braker Lane, drive 0.4 miles to Domain Drive on the left. In 0.1 miles, turn left onto Feathergrass Court, and park in the D2 South Parking Garage (free parking) on the right. Walk East about 400 feet to Maggiano's restaurant.
The Austin Area Chapter of The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is a non-profit organization formed in the State of Texas and registered as a 501 (C) (6) Organization with the IRS.
The Austin Area Chapter of The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org
Cancellation Policy and No Shows
If you have registered and/or paid for an event and you need to cancel, you MUST email info@austinacfe.com no later than 5 days prior to the event, unless otherwise indicated in specific event policies, to request a refund and/or cancel your registration. The Chapter must confirm event registrations with the venue within 5 days of the event and any changes after this time period can become a financial cost to the Chapter. Cancellations received less than 5 days prior to events will not be refunded except for exigent circumstances.
In the event an attendee does not show up to the event, the registration cost will be forfeited. If payment at the door was the selected method, then the attendee will be billed for the full cost of the event. The Chapter reserves the right to bar for future registration any attendees who routinely register and fail to pay and/or attend the event.
