This quote says it all when we refer to the perpetrators of fraud. The world ’ s

great anti - fraud guru, Joe Wells, teaches us the critical reality that most people are

either honest or want to be. They don ’ t, as Wells points out, set out to be career

fraudsters.

The problem is that life ’ s inevitable curveballs sometimes are all it takes to push

a fundamentally moral, honest individual to cross the line from integrity to crime.

The Anti - Fraud Risk and Control Workbook is designed to give internal auditors,

accountants, and other fi nancial professionals in all organizations a foundation of

practical knowledge about the fraud that can impact their organizations.

This book appears at a time when the need for awareness about the mechanics

of major types of internal and external fraud and the red fl ags that raise suspicion

is more acute than in recent memory. For years, the incidence of fraud has been

steadily increasing and along with it, the number of dollars lost to these crimes.

And while this is clear evidence that fraud fl ourishes during periods of economic

growth and prosperity, it virtually explodes when the economy turns south.

Naturally, we all hope that the recession that commenced in 2007 — or any

future recession for that matter — won ’ t motivate too many fundamentally honest

people to add further credence to Joe Wells ’ s apt observation. However, regardless

of the economy’s vicissitudes in coming months and years, history proves that the

“ fraud problem ” will undoubtedly worsen. The key for management is to acknowledge

this, raise the task of fraud risk mitigation much higher on the organization ’ s

priority list, and allocate the human and fi nancial resources necessary to at least

eliminate as many of the identifi able fraud risks threatening it now and in the

future.