In a recent report, auditors were found to have detected only 4% of occupational frauds committed,  and it is not difficult to understand why.  Consider the level of attention to detail managing and keeping tabs on such a wealth of numerical data requires. To then, mine said data for suspicious activity is an incredibly complex task, and it does not end with the data.  

A needle in a haystack 

Source 

It goes without saying that there is more than one way to commit fraud. Accountants and auditors would need to be on the lookout for evidence of secret cooperation or conspiracy within the company including, but not limited to: redirected payments; false invoice payments; misappropriation of funds; non-purchase payments; anonymous vendor payments; anonymous customer payments; falsified or changed client names, addresses, and payment information; imaginary vendors, refunds, and purchase orders; and overcharged hours or workloads.
 

Man VS Machine 

While people may not be able to detect fraud easily, we might have a better shot with the aid of accounting software and fraud detection software.  

Accounting software typically manages the financial activity of a company, including sales and purchase orders, expense handling, electronic payments, billing/invoicing, and timesheets. It also compiles financial reports, including income statements, balance sheets, and profit and loss statements. 

Beyond the usual accounting software, there is also ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning for businesses, which is software that not only manages data and promotes internal information sharing, but can also play an effective role in fraud prevention.  

As well as the standard accounting software functions mentioned above, ERP accounting software is also able to track assets and hours worked; manage customer relations, product life cycles, and supply chain management, produce reports, and perform data analysis.   

Obviously, to successfully catch and prevent all fraudulent activity you would need to perform a complex analysis of ERP system logs, phone logs, and email logs. You may also need to analyze door logs, office layouts (to identify people working in the same location), and interpersonal relationships. Few people have the time or patience for such an undertaking. It’s a job for a full-time specialist.  

Internal fraud detection can usually spot fake financial reporting by management personnel, and abnormal transactions by employees, and data mining and statistical approaches can detect suspicious user behavior, activity logs, and transaction logs. An alternative approach would be to use specific fraud detection software with programming that is able to detect, identify, and stop potential fraud setups in their tracks.  

Getting back to ERP software though, while it cannot usually detect multi-transactional fraud, and it is important to note that it is not the be-all and end-all of fraud prevention, what it can do very effectively is limit individually-operating fraudsters, and go some way towards limiting multi-transactional fraud.  

Considering the similarities, if you have not yet used ERP software, you might be wondering about the difference between that and traditional accounting software. Assuming you already know traditional accounting software reasonably well, let’s take a more in-depth look at some of the more useful applications of ERP software. 

In addition to the functions of traditional accounting software, which handles the purely financial aspects of your business, ERP software includes those things as well as tracking assets, human resource functions, and supply chain management. It may include the ability to track billable hours, product life cycles, key performance indicators, and customer relations. Because these things can impact the company’s finances, they can be considered an integral function of the finance department, and so it is easy to see why having one software program to contain them all, is highly useful. 

Restricted access and file integrity 

ERP software can deny unauthorized operations such as changing names, addresses, amounts, or other data, without a higher authority reviewing and approving the request. It can also automate electronic fund transfers, removing the need for human interaction, and help companies follow industry-specific regulations, laws, and practices.

In addition, the general ledger gives accurate financial data in real time and can be accessed from any device. It can be protected to prevent unauthorized access or data tampering. 

You can enable customizable alerts on certain form fields so that you are notified of any changes. The software can also monitor file integrity and detect intrusion, alert system administrators of suspicious file activity, and detect unauthorized access to the network. 

Tracking 

An ERP system can produce activity reports, grant access to transaction history, verify external data sources, display time/date/user identification data, and integrate reporting with other features.

Users can also look up cash transactions and access source documents. 

Keeping track of receivables, payables, and assets  

You can access incoming payments, and see which clients paid on time and which are still due. Knowing how to invoice a client effectively plays a crucial role in this process, ensuring that your invoices are clear and encourage timely payments. Tracking all transactions, purchases, billing, as well as recurring and deferred payments will prevent sending outdated invoices and enable you to send reminders to customers who haven’t yet paid. 

As for payments, you can track invoices and automatically pay for any purchases made. This prevents accidentally paying for services twice, or missing payment dates. You can also access transaction history to see how efficiently the system is functioning.   

Tracking the lifecycle of assets can be complicated, but with ERP software, it becomes much easier to track, and can be monitored on mobile apps that enable you to choose which employees can access it.  It also automates salary calculations, taxation issues, hiring, retiring, vacation or sick leave payments, and any other personnel-related expenses.  

Preventing fraud 

ERP software can go a long way towards preventing fraud, however only if good controls are implemented as part of the system.  Dummy company fraud is only possible if a user is able to access all processes in the setting up of suppliers and the processing of false transactions.  ERP software should be modified to break these processes up to ensure that no one person can perform all of the tasks in the process.  

Key personnel should be notified if a supplier’s bank details are changed, or if a salary is increased without justification. Audit trails on key transactions can also help, although this is definitely something that is better left to automation.  

And lastly, regular access reviews by managers are important to help prevent security breaches and ensure that users’ access rights are in-line with their role.  As responsibilities change, users are often granted additional access rights, but something that is frequently overlooked is the removal of redundant rights.  

Final words 

It is relatively easy to identify individual fraudulent transactions. However, fraud involving a combination of multiple legitimate transactions is extremely difficult to detect and can lead to significant financial losses. It is also more complicated and increasingly difficult to detect when mid- and upper management are involved, as they are more likely to be able to conceal fraudulent activities.  

While ERP software should not be considered as a stand-alone solution to detecting fraud, it can be considered an extremely powerful component in a larger, more comprehensive strategy.  Besides ERP software, additional preventive measures such as CCTV, advanced locking solutions, and authentication technology, including ID badge, fingerprint scans, and facial recognition, is recommendable. 

Risk management is a key strength of ERP software capabilities. Businesses should analyze potential risks and configure the software accordingly. This in turn will not only prevent accidental and deliberate future losses but will also help with documentation and compliance with regulations. 

Businesses should also hold employees accountable for maintaining internal control. In combining ERP accounting software with employee professionalism and well-established policies, you can ensure a strong system that can help to detect, eliminate, and prevent fraudulent activity. 

With an estimated 1 billion installations worldwide, PowerPoint is now doubt the leading presentation software with a range of default templates ready for use for the average presenter. This, however, also means that millions of business presenters end up using the same templates!

Free PowerPoint Templates for Getting Your Slides Noticed

While many presenters opt for the default templates offered by Microsoft, they can add more visual appeal by using templates by third-party sources.

The benefit of using such templates is that the slide backgrounds and layouts are less commonly used and can help make slides more professional looking.

FPPT.com is one such website which has a mammoth archive of more than 10,000 Free PowerPoint Templates.

More Than 10,000 Free PowerPoint Templates

With such a huge archive of professionally crafted templates available for free, monotony is the least of your worries.

You can search through free templates by category, tags or via the search bar on the website.

There are an endless supply of templates for virtually any topic you might need to work on.

Themes & Templates for Business, Education & Organizational Use

The free PowerPoint themes at FPPT have been designed to be generic so that presenters can mould them according to need.

Moreover, the diverse range of templates are available for all kinds of presenters, be it business professionals, students, people working in NGOs or governmental organizations, etc.

Pros

• Thousands of Free PowerPoint Templates available for free download.
• Templates can be downloaded without sign up or any strings attached.
• Professionally designed templates with handy layouts.
• FPPT also provides reviews for third-party templates as an additional resource for presenters.
• FPPT contains an articles section with presentation tips, with guides on using presentation tools and techniques.

Cons

• Since the templates are free, they are usually not fully customizable.
• Most designs are quite basic and might need some additional work by the presenter to design slides.
• Templates come with a small watermark that needs to be hidden or removed.
• Lack of professional support.

The Verdict

FPPT is one of the best resource for downloading free PowerPoint templates. The templates archive is more extensive than most third-party template providers for PowerPoint and is arguably more extensive than Microsoft’s own archive.

However, you can’t expect the templates to provide flashy animations or over the top graphics. Nonetheless, FPPT can be a lifesaver for an average presenter, with an endless supply of templates for quickly making attractive slide decks.

If you want more than what FPPT has to offer, you might also want to check out SlideModel, which provides thousands of premium quality presentation templates for PowerPoint, with fully editable slide layouts.

This rate of increase shows no signs of slowing down, which suggests that small businesses need to take steps to protect themselves against breaches of their computer networks by cybercriminals.

For at least four reasons, cyber insurance is an important part of that protection.

SMBs Budget

First, SMBs are less likely to utilize the sophisticated cyber defenses that large companies are able to install in their own networks. Larger companies can devote more resources to employ large information technology teams and to install sophisticated detection technology in their information systems infrastructure.

Greater resources also give large businesses a better chance to keep cyber defenses up to date and to detect a cyberattack early enough to stop before it does excessive damage. Unless a small business is willing or able to devote similar resources to its own network, cyber insurance is a sound alternative.

Customer Personal Data

Second, SMBs hold copious amounts of personal data from their customers. Many SMBs will discount both the amount and the depth of customer data that they maintain.

Cyberattackers know otherwise, and readily target small businesses to steal customer names, email addresses, purchase histories, and credit card information. Many SMBs maintain general liability and indemnity insurance to protect physical assets and to cover liabilities associated with negligence and errors.

Cyber insurance can extend that coverage to losses of valuable customer information.

Lawsuits from Cyberattacks

Third, lawsuits associated with losses from cyberattacks are expensive. Litigation and settlement costs associated with a handful of cyberattack lawsuits are illustrative.

For example, the Florida behavioral health services provider, AvMed, established a $3.1 million settlement fund after more than a million of its clients’ social security numbers and health records were compromised in a cyberattack.

Or another example, the Missouri food retailer, Schnucks Markets, settled a cyberattack class action lawsuit for $2.1 million. The online ticket seller, Vendini, set up a $3 million settlement fund to reimburse customers whose data was placed at risk as a consequence of a cyberattack. Few SMBs can handle these kinds of costs without insurance coverage.

Cyberattack Threat

Last, a successful cyberattack can mean the death of an SMB. More than half of all SMBs that experience a cyberattack are out of business within six months after the attack.

A small business’s founders can work for years to build up the business, only to see all of the value that has been created evaporate as a result of one unauthorized network incursion.

A ransomware attack, for example, can freeze a company’s systems and delete critical data. If an SMB is unable to recreate that data, it will quickly shut its doors for good.

Over the past twenty years, cyber insurance companies have developed the expertise and know-how to evaluate risks faced by SMBs and to underwrite cyber defense insurance to cover those risks.

They also consult with their clients to evaluate their risk profiles and to establish better defenses and protocols to handle a cyberattack when it happens. If that cyberattack leads to direct financial losses and third party liabilities, the cyberinsurance can cover a large portion of those losses and liabilities, allowing the business to remain afloat while it rebuilds its internal structures and re-establishes sound relationships with its clients and customers.

No SMB can underestimate the cyber risks that it faces, and none can afford to insure against those risks.