Stephanie Lisovich, CPA, CFE, Manager, Assurance

How Trusted Employees Commit Fraud

Many small businesses are family-owned and operated with employees that have been with the company for years. Manager oversight can become lax. Staff and co-workers are like “family,” or they may actually be family. Long-term employees are trusted. But it is when owners and managers don’t maintain proper controls over their processes that those closest…

Do You Have More Than 100 Employees in Your Employee Benefit Plan?

If you have more than 100 employees participating in your employee benefit plan (EBP), you may be required to undergo an EBP audit. For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, the requirements for an EBP audit have changed. Defined contribution plans that have at least 100 participants with account balances in their…

Beware of Ghost Employees – and Other Payroll Fraud

Any employee can commit payroll fraud. An employee could submit false hours, claiming they worked overtime when they didn’t. On the extreme end, someone in your payroll department could create a ghost employee (an employee that does not actually exist) keeping those false wages for themselves. Learn more: 7 Behavioral Flags for Internal Fraud Below…

New Accounting for Credit Losses

If your entity has trade receivables, contract assets, loans, or held-to-maturity debt securities, among other types of financial assets, then the new current expected credit loss (“CECL”) model will affect the way you account for those assets on your US GAAP financial statements. For nonpublic entities, adoption of this new accounting standard takes effect for…

Does Your Employee Benefit Plan Require an Audit? Here is what to expect

The audit of an employee benefit plan (EBP) requires expertise and a high level of understanding and scrutiny of the plan documents. Not all CPAs have the knowledge and experience it takes to correctly perform an audit of an EBP. Because of the nature of these in-depth plan documents and the expertise needed to understand…

Billing Fraud Schemes Lessons Learned

Many small business owners hire friends and family or have employees who have been with them for years. They may also have vendors they have become close with and do business with regularly. It is easy for small business owners to become lax in their oversight as they trust their employees and other close business…

Is Your Small Business At Risk For Internal Fraud?

Internal fraud, also called occupational fraud, is defined as “the use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the organization’s resources or assets.” Simply stated, this type of fraud occurs when an employee, manager, or executive commits fraud against his or her employer. Stories of debilitating fraud cases surface every year. Small businesses…