Fraud

As an industry, we are all suffering right now in large part because too many people over a long period of time checked their ethical compasses at the door.  Whether we like it or not, we are all caught up in this mess and few people are differentiating the players - since we are part of the system, we are perceived by many as therefore being part of the problem.

At this point in time, confidence and trust in all aspects of our business are challenged.  Simultaneously, the financial environment for many brokers and agents has never been more difficult and the temptation to compromise company and personal values has never been higher.  As brokers and agents, this is the time to stand up in defense of your ethical principles.

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As the news about the unprecedented fraud conducted by Jérôme Kerviel at Société Générale continues to unfold before our eyes, it’s easy to chalk this up as perhaps interesting reading but something irrelevant to most of us. But the unfortunate truth is fraud is happening every day, to companies of all sizes, and in every industry.

The 2006 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse is a sobering read. In it, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has compiled data from over 1,000 fraud cases covering every imaginable company. From it, I thought the following figures were particularly relevant to our industry: Read the rest of this entry »