By S. Siapha Mulbah
The Liberian chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has launched the 2023 Annual Anti-Fraud Conference, to improve professionalism among members of the Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) and build different capacities for the fight against fraud and corruption.
The conference is held every year by the body to have fraud examiners across the country come together to have basic training and refresher sections, discussing the sector as well as crafting remedies to problems faced by CFEs, based on reports gathered from institutions of assignment.
Under the theme “Combating Fraud and Corruption through Increased Vigilance and Innovation,” the Anti-Fraud conference, which runs from December 6-8, 2023, will provide a platform that is geared towards refreshing and broadening the minds of CFEs and others, mainly in the financial sector.
On Wednesday, December 6, 2023 at the opening ceremony of the conference hosted at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town, Jarwo Cooper, the training director of the Liberia Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, called on examiners to become robust in making sure that fraud, which is a key component of corruption, is fought to the fullest.
Cooper disclosed that the three-day conference sets the standards to inform CFEs on the guidelines to examine frauds and reduce the incidence of fraud and white-collar crime, as well as assistance of members in detecting and deterring fraud.
He explained that ACFE has reported about 2,110 cases of fraud in over 120 countries that affects the society in different areas, ranging from companies to individuals and other sectors. “This shows that we need to be more vigilant in our fight against fraud and corruption as fraud examiners. This will help us uncover some of the things we need to refresh to curtail fraud in Liberia like other countries around the world.
Fraud is one of the major obstacles to the growth and development of institutions around the world, as billions of dollars are being lost to theft and fraud-related cases. Fraud is one of the contributing factors to the collapse of flourishing institutions and nations,” the examiner said.
At the same time, the Deputy Director for Administration at the Internal Audit Agency, Mohammed Korleh, reminded the professionals to see the Alpha Code of Conduct for professional Accountants as a major working tool that needs to be sustained and upheld by members of the profession.
Korleh urged the gathering to also use professionalism, independence, objectivity, and code competence, as the yardstick of conducting fraud examination. He defined sustainability as the tenacity and ability to maintain professional standards for the duration of individual professional careers.
According to him, in order for fraud examiners to be professional in the discharge of their duties, they are required to continuously advance themselves through trainings and capacity building, at events such as continuing professional education at the Anti-Fraud Conference.
He then lauded the leadership of the Liberian chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners for the organization of the annual Anti-Fraud Conference, and urged them to use said occasions the best way possible in making its members grow in the best practices of fraud examination.
