Friday, 17 April 2015

Australia – White Collar Crime Paradise?

Blog 4 

The chairman of ASIC labelled Australia paradise for white collar criminals. White collar crimes include the broad term of fraud which includes credit card, bankruptcy, insurance frauds, insider trading, bribery, money laundering, embezzlement and cartel conduct.  



“Criminal Minds” from the Journal of Accountancy discusses how CPAs can learn from the way thieves think. Six fraudsters opened up how they concealed the fraud and how CPA can both prevent and uncover such shrewd schemes. 


I believe knowing the methods of white collar criminal activity will be helpful in preventing and detecting such crimes. Having worked in retail, you hear stories of managers shifting sales to prior period to meet performance indicators and get bonuses. If an accountant is aware of the this type of fraud, he/ she would check cut-off dates etc to detect this type of crime happening. Whether it is new tech savvy type of fraud or an old school method, getting into the head of a criminal can make it easier not only in detection but prevention. It may not always be that the fraud that can be detected through transactions, it could be criminal activities such as insider trading. This type of crime involves collusion and often detected by instinct. Therefore, it could be advantages to understand the types of white collar crimes.   

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