fraud

08 Aug fraud

· Company directors, especially Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers, are subject to increasing risk exposure, including personal liability for the actions and financial reporting of their companies. Yet how do you know whether the information you receive is sufficiently accurate, reliable, complete, relevant and timely to satisfy your duties and responsibilities as a company director?

This one is the one I need to rewrite to lower the plagiarism percentage

Case study: Whistleblower protection policy and set-up of an external hotline

A publicly listed company in Victoria required a whistleblower protection policy and an externally managed hotline that could receive disclosures from staff and the general public. With the aid of external advice, the company developed a whistleblower protection policy, including an 1800 telephone number, PO Box, and a database accessible on the organization’s website for the receipt of disclosures. Experienced investigators manage the system, reporting disclosures to the organization’s whistleblower protection coordinator with recommendations for further action.

· If you were part of the investigators managing the system to the organizations whistleblower protection coordinator what would be some of your recommendations?

The first recommendation should be to study other systems already working with whistleblower protections in the same industry and geographically close this could help them construct and carry out a program. Then I will recommend

1. Leadership commitment

2. A true “speak up” organizational culture that is the basis of a prevention-oriented program that encourages raising and fair resolution of issues

3. Independent, protected resolution systems for allegations of retaliation

4. Specific training to teach workers their rights and about available internal and external protection programs, and for managers to learn these along with related skills, behaviors and obligations to act

5. Monitoring and measurements that don’t contribute to suppression of reporting and which measure the effort and effectiveness of inputs to a speak-up and non-retaliation culture

6. Independent auditing to determine if the program is actually working

· Please name and describe the steps to implement a protected disclosure program.

1- Understand whistleblowing law, some information passing on to a source to other may not qualified as a whistleblowing and have to be related to six categories: criminal offences; breach of any legal obligation; miscarriages of justice; danger to the health and safety of any individual; damage to the environment; or the deliberate concealing of information about any of these.

2- Introduce and discuss within the organization the protected disclosure program and adopt proper procedures, the employees, the management, the stakeholders and other internal and external factors should know and understand the procedures related to these policies and how practically use them.

3- The company should make sure than any whistleblowing practice will be protected by making sure the policies are fair to the parties involve and make everybody understand that they will be protected by the organization and by the law.

4- The wrongdoing statements should be addresses and not take frivolous neither dramatically to avoid mislead on the process. All led should be investigated without.

5- Be prepared to go to an arbitration court or to a regular court to bring them the case and get the proper procedure.

6- A secure channel through which employees can report ethical issues that concern them, or suspected violations of company codes of practice;

7- Encouragement to communicate confidentially, and without the risk of reprisal, legitimate concerns about illegal, unethical or questionable practices;

8- Recognition of the critical importance of timely and frank discussion and the ability to escalate problems to higher levels within the organization; and

9- Direct or indirect reporting to the board through an independent audit or compliance process, or through an ombudsman independent of the internal ‘chain of command’.

· Why is important to have a whistleblower protection program in a company? How should it be designed.

Is important and necessary within businesses to protect their employees, customers, and their organization as a whole from these activities.

Is so important for top management to promote, demonstrate and commit to the inclusion of whistleblowing within their business culture.

Is important as a fraud detention method, much business failures are due to fraud and theft and whistleblower policies could prevent them from occur.

Other whistleblowing benefits is that enables organizations to access information that can help to minimize risks. Whistleblowing also has a preventive part; the mere presence of a whistleblowing system will make wrong doers think twice.

Should be design following some goals like making the employees easy and comfortable to report the wrongdoing, misconduct and fraud, this program should have a protocol for taking care of complains and also should have explicit point about how the whistleblower will be protected against any type of retaliation.