Ghana to host fraud and corruption enrollment conference

Ghana is to host an international fraud and corruption enrollment conference to highlight the emerging role of academia in assisting governments and business to manage the risk of financial crime.

The conference on the theme: “Professional education and staff training; an effective strategy in the anti-fraud arsenal,” is being organized by the Corruption and Fraud Audit Consortium (CAFAC) Ghana in collaboration with University of Ghana Business School.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra Mr Hector Boham Executive Director of CAFAC said participants will be exposed to the different types of fraud that can pose as threat to a business entity or government.

He identified as the most common types of occupational fraud as asset misappropriation, fraudulent statements, bribery and corruption whilst the frequency of fraudulent activities varies depending on industry and size of the organization.

Mr Boham explained that new approach to fighting corruption and fraud which focuses on multi-dimensional system will be introduced, stressing that: “Ghana has focused mainly on the advocacy dimension – shouting, complaining and writing about it in the papers.”

“It is time to make the fight against fraud and corruption multi-dimensional and holistic through a non-partisanship institution as well as officials”.

He said the fraud and corruption enrolment conference, which will be attended by students, academia, anti-corruption agencies, media, governmental and non-governmental agencies, will also be used to inspire the universities to consider including masters programme in Fraud Auditing or Corruption Auditing.

He said: “We shall train, educate, inform and empower Ghanaians not to accept fraud and corruption as a way of life but to look at them as an inimical force that must be eliminated or at least severely hampered.

“CAFAC will assist organizations to put into place proper systems of internal controls to ensure that the assets and resources of such organizations are protected and safeguarded”.

Mr Boham explained that CAFAC is not an external auditing firm but will use audit methodologies and procedures in some of its investigative work.

“The objective of traditional audit work is not intended to catch fraudsters, however, CAFAC will have as one of its main objective of ensuring that financial statement fraudsters and corrupt officials are caught and prosecuted.

“CAFAC will design employee training programs to educate people in organizations both private and public to desist from fraudulent practices and also help organizations to prepare ethical codes of conduct to control employee behavior.”