Arnesha Dixon
Advanced Rhetorical
Collen Page
Taking a Stand on Fraud
Joelmungar.blogspot.com this is clearly a personal blog written by an author named Joel M. Ungar. The blog is designed to appeal to business owners and accountants by delivering helpful news and suggestions for their profession or place of business. The title of the blog is “Accounting Thoughts”. In the title of the blog the author lets you know his name and accredited such titles as “Joel M. Ungar, CPA, CFE.
The slogan that lies beneath the title in smaller text reads “Thoughts, reactions and musings on accounting, financial reporting, and fraud, and sometimes whatever else is on my mind.” The tone of this blog expresses what he the author speaks about what he feels whether it is an accounting matter or not. The blog distinguishes each piece contained in the blog by different colors, for instance, the title is all in red. Another distinguished piece includes the archives and the about me in blue, and all other posts are in a tanish-cream color.
The blog definitely lets bloggers know that it is a creditable source when it establishes a column that allows the blogger to read about the author. The blog also gives you the ability to click on the author entire profiles which consist, of information that is all about him. Another beneficial aspect of the blog is the ability to review archives. Some of the archives allow one to read for deeper insight monthly reviews on a particular subject such as accounting and fraud.
The Field of accounting has encountered a stricter regulations and laws due to the significant increase in the fraudulent crimes that committed within the last ten years.
Many companies were faced with fraudulent activities because of the lack of internal controls, knowing how to recognize fraud, and the simple lack of knowledge regarding early preventive measures. The lack of these aspects, on behalf of these companies created a lot of negative opinions and attitudes towards accountants.
In Joel Ungars blog “Accounting Thoughts” he takes on a defensive position describing how to implement internal controls of preventing fraudulent activities within a company. In another one of Ungar post, “Mandatory Vacation- A Great Fraud Fighter,” he talks about the benefits of giving employees a mandatory vacation. A mandatory vacation would require that the fraudster be off work for at least one week. This will allow some other person to take on his or her normal responsibilities within the job place. The individual who takes over for the person on vacation could then possibly find some fraudulent activity, causing the fraudster to be caught. Ungar states “ Suzanne was the last person we expected to commit fraud. She was so loyal she worked here for seven years and never took a day off” (Ungar). He then goes on to say “Sadly the entity by them has learned why Suzanne never took any time off.” Taking the position that mandatory vacation can cut down on a lot of fraud within companies; Ungar says “According to ACFE Mandatory Vacation policies and job rotation were in place in 12.3% of the fraud cases discovered by reports.” Companies that do not enforce Mandatory Vacations should implement this within their policy. Although, mandatory vacation is a good internal tool to use in fraud prevention, Ungar also suggest other defenses for fraud.
In Ungar’s post “What I still think is the best fraud defense for a Small Business,” he discovered another method of investigation to reveal fraudulent cases. Ungar believed that this other method would have been prevented earlier if the owner of the business had taken time out to look at the company’s monthly bank statement. It was quoted “Then they would have seen checks going out to unauthorized vendors like bookkeeper’s credit card company and her cable television bill.” (Ungar) An owner reviewing his own statements would have cut out any loss that was incurred by fraudulent activities. Ungar says “If they had reviewed the bank statement they wouldn’t have lost $125000 to her over 5yrs” (Ungar). He suggest that because the fraudster was able to get away with it once allowed them to keep using the same method but building up more accounts as time proceeded. One way to keep the bank statement out of the way of fraudulent hands he suggests “have the bank statement sent to the owner’s house” (Ungar). He reminds us that it’s the simplest tasks that can be done to make a big difference in preventing fraudulent activities.
Remember, businesses of any kind can be at a risk for fraudulent activities. Businesses, interested in limiting fraud risks to their company should read the book titled Associate of Certified Fraud Examines Guide. In Ungar’s post “Managing the Business Risk of Fraud.” he explains why the guide is a good source of information and very useful. Ungar says “The guide is a good overview of what every business small and large should consider doing to reduce the risk of fraud occurring.
In each post written by Joel Ungar, I discovered a since of security. The tone in which he writes is appealing to me because he stands firm on his beliefs even if it does not line up with the rules of society. An Example of Ungar’s affirmative stance written
In an article about Current Ration Ungar disagreed with the formula given to accountants by GAAP and he explained his theory or evidence as to why.
Works Cited
Ungar, Joel. “Mandatory Vacations-A Great Fighter.” Accounting Thoughts. 8 Aug. 2008 29 Sept.2008 www.http://joelmungar.blogspot.com
Ungar, Joel. “New Document-Managing The Business Risk of Fraud. “Accounting Thoughts. 10 July 2008 29 Sept. 2008 www.http//joelmungar.blogspot.com
Ungar, Joel. “What I Still Think Is The Best Fraud Defense For A Small Business.” Accounting Thoughts. 1 Aug. 2008. 29 Sept. 2008
