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1. HOW A CPA FIRM USED DATA ANALYTICS
TO UNCOVER EMPLOYEE FRAUD
AUDIT CASE STUDY

2. BACKGROUND
With a focus on the non-profit industry, Tate & Tryon provides
fraud prevention and consulting services that range from
outsourced accounting to audit and assurance, including
financial statement audits and consultative services.
During what was thought to be a routine client engagement,
Tate & Tryon performed extraction procedures on accounts
payable data using IDEA® Data Analysis software.

3. TESTS ON ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DATA
Testing included:
• A match between a vendor’s business address and an
employee’s home address
• Total expense reimbursements by employee for the past
year
A review of the data extraction results raised a concern as the
Tate & Tryon team noticed what appeared to be an indicator
of suspicious activity within the data.

4. MEET SAM
One employee, Sam, had more than 25 expense
reimbursements totaling approximately $18,000 in the past
fiscal year—nearly three times more than any other
employee. Interestingly, Sam’s home address also matched a
vendor’s business address.
These anomalies along with the examination of various
financial documents, including accounting records, expense
reports, check requests, cancelled checks, invoices and
receipts, led to a more detailed investigation.

5. INVESTIGATION
To determine the types of asset misappropriations that may
have occurred, key employees and vendors were interviewed,
and the legitimacy of the financial records were examined. A
search of Sam’s desk area, computer drives and email
activities was also done.
It was determined that assets had been misappropriated in
several ways…

6. ASSET MISAPPROPRIATION
1. Tate & Tryon’s client had been paying Sam’s personal rent,
with Sam’s landlord being listed in the client’s vendor
master file.
2. Sam received more than 120 reimbursements by
submitting fake invoices and receipts from other
employees’ credit cards as support.
3. The client had also paid for several repairs to Sam’s
personal car.

7. CONCLUSION
The discovery of fraud led to the termination of Sam’s
employment. Emails confirmed that Sam had access to other
employee’s receipts, which he then used to support his
expense claims. Documents found at Sam’s desk had been
altered, including with forged supervisor signatures.
In the end, Tate & Tryon demonstrated that over a six-year
period, Sam had embezzled more than $150,000 USD. He
eventually pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interstate
transportation of stolen property.

8. LEARN HOW YOU CAN USE CASEWARE IDEA
FOR DETECTING EMPLOYEE FRAUD
Contact us at salesidea@caseware.com to
schedule a demonstration

9. HOW A CPA FIRM USED DATA ANALYTICS
TO UNCOVER EMPLOYEE FRAUD
AUDIT CASE STUDY
Visit casewareanalytics.com
Email salesidea@caseware.com