The Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist Handbook

CHAPTER 1 How the counter fraud profession developed and what the counter fraud professional should be

CHAPTER SUMMARY

This chapter will consider the professionalisation of counter fraud investigation, including how the Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist has evolved. The development of a professional infrastructure and the essence of the counter fraud professional will then be outlined. Finally, the chapter will redefine the counter fraud professional and the lexicon of countering fraud.

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will consider the importance for an organisation – whatever the size – of employing a counter fraud professional and developments over the last 15 years to establish a new Counter Fraud Specialist profession. This may seem like an extravagant expense, but there are a variety of economical models which can be used to achieve this aim. For example small organisations can contract in the services of a professional for a selected number of days depending upon their needs or they can train a member of staff to take on these responsibilities. For medium to larger organisations the risks of fraud are likely to warrant much more investment in the resource, ultimately culminating in a full-time position or multiple positions. There is no one size fits all and clearly the size, complexity and nature of fraud risks vary significantly between organisations. This chapter ...