Anti-fraud audit: weaknesses in internal control

An anti-fraud audit is an investigation aimed at detecting and preventing fraud within an organisation. The purpose is not to examine a concrete suspicion, but to uncover weaknesses in internal control and management processes before they are exploited. Those weaknesses often sit in processes that have run unchanged for years, without anyone still looking at them critically.

We evaluate the financial processes, investigate potential conflicts of interest and check compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. For an entity covered by the anti-money laundering law, that goes further: it must in any case have policies, procedures and internal control measures proportionate to its nature and size, approved by a member of senior management.

For an obliged entity, it goes further still: the anti-money laundering law requires a specific and independent channel through which staff, agents or distributors can report breaches confidentially and anonymously, separate from the ordinary reporting channel. Our audit checks whether such a channel exists and whether it operates sufficiently independently of the ordinary hierarchy.

If you are an entity covered by the anti-money laundering law, you must also appoint one person responsible at the highest level, and one or more people who analyse atypical transactions and report them to the CFI. Our audit checks whether both appointments are correctly in place at your company, and whether the staff concerned actually receive the required ongoing training.

Our audit also looks at the basis of your client relationships: do you identify every client when entering into a business relationship, and also occasional clients from 10,000 euro upward? Without that identification, you may not enter into a business relationship or carry out a transaction, and must end an existing relationship.

It also checks whether you maintain ongoing vigilance over transactions during a business relationship, and whether an atypical transaction, one that is complex, unusually large or without a clear economic purpose, receives a written analysis under the responsibility of the appointed person.

We put our extensive experience in fraud detection at your company’s disposal. Together with you, we review the current measures within your organisation and assess whether they are adequate or if improvements are needed, department by department and process by process. Where a control has quietly stopped working the way it was designed to, we flag it before it becomes an incident.

You receive our findings as an audit report with concrete recommendations. If you also want to implement them, we guide you through drafting a fraud and integrity policy or through implementing a whistleblowing procedure that lets your staff report a suspicion safely.

If you already have a concrete suspicion of fraud, a targeted investigation into that suspicion fits better than this preventive audit, since the two serve a different purpose at a different stage. Company directors find on the company directors page the eight other assignments we carry out for them, including the criminal liability audit and our whistleblowing procedure audit.

This audit checks your company’s internal control and management processes, with attention to financial processes, potential conflicts of interest and compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. The purpose is to uncover weaknesses before they lead to fraud, not to examine a concrete suspicion. You receive the findings as an audit report with concrete recommendations.

Yes, this audit is preventive: it identifies weaknesses in internal control before they are exploited. Where a concrete suspicion of fraud already exists, a targeted investigation into that suspicion fits better than this audit.

You receive our findings as an audit report with concrete recommendations. If you also want to implement them, we guide you through drafting a fraud and integrity policy or through implementing a whistleblowing procedure that lets your staff report a suspicion safely.

An obliged entity appoints one person responsible at the highest level, and one or more people who analyse atypical transactions and report them to the CFI. Our audit checks whether both appointments are correctly in place at your company, and whether the staff concerned actually receive the required ongoing training.