What was it about

Fraud and corruptive activities represent one of the biggest risks to good governance and public sector auditors can help institutions to manage those risks as the third line of defense. In this context, internal auditors have an important role in detecting fraud and corruption and it is crucial that they are capable of identifying, investigating and reporting such activities. According to the international standards, internal auditors must have “sufficient knowledge to evaluate the risk of fraud”.

The workshop addressed the following topics:

• Introduction to fraud and corruption
• Fraud and corruption triangle
• Detecting corruption
• Role of management and auditor
• Communicating fraud and corruption findings to authorities and between them
• Components of an investigation plan
• Key elements in the international standards on auditing
• Investigation services, their internal processes and internal (quality) control
• IT trends and new fraud risks
• New fraud red flags and indicators
• Misuse of information and information systems
• Integrity audit

What were the benefits

The learning event was facilitated by two experts from the Central Government Audit Service, the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands. It offered an opportunity for exchange of practices and experiences among practitioners.

The workshop was highly interactive. It was a combination of presentation and interactive learning approaches, including a serious game “Combating Fraud and Corruption”, which enabled participants to acquire new knowledge and skills through playing.

The following were the learning objectives:

• able to conduct fraud risk assessment
• aware of anti-fraud measures
• able to describe the most important measures, standards, and methods of fraud and corruption detection
• able to describe new IT tools for fraud and corruption prevention and detection
• able to describe the main principles of integrity audit
• able to describe how to communicate fraud and corruption findings

Who was it for

The workshop was designed for junior and experienced internal auditors from ministries and other public institutions as well as for other internal audit experts and professionals interested in the topic.

Faculty

Erik Schrijner, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands

Mr. Schrijner has been working as an audit manager in the audit department at the Dutch Ministry of Finance since October 1, 2008. Before joining the ministry, he worked as an auditor at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. Until 2005 he worked for five years as a government auditor in the Caribbean (Saint Martin, the Netherlands Antilles) where he undertook several fraud and corruption investigations.

Earlier in his career he worked as a team manager of the audit department at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a policy advisor for the European Union at the audit policy directorate at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. He was also an assistant auditor and audit supervisor at Dijker en Doornbos in Rotterdam and an audit manager at the international business section of Coopers & Lybrand.

Mr. Schrijner is a part-time teacher at the Nyenrode Business University, teaching auditing. He has successfully finished studies at the Dutch Professional Organization of Accountants in Amsterdam and has participated in various courses on auditing, risk management, and international public accounting standards.

 

Jo Kremers, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands

Mr. Kremers is a senior audit manager in the Central Audit Service at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. For the last seven years he has been an audit manager in the Dutch Audit Authority for EU Structural Funds, managing audits for EU Regional Development Funds. He is a certified public auditor and a certified IT auditor.

Prior to that, he worked for 30 years as an external auditor, fraud investigator and internal auditor in the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, also cooperating
with the Fiscal Intelligence Department. In addition, he has gained vast experience in project management and expertise in information security audits and integrity audits.

He is a lecturer and trainer at the National Academy for Finance and Economics in the Hague. Working as an expert for international projects, he has helped strengthen the internal control and audit function in the public sector of (back then candidate) EU Member States, like Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Mr. Kremers is a lecturer and expert at anti-corruption trainings at the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Laxenburg (near Vienna; initiated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the European Anti-Fraud Office, the Republic of Austria, and other stakeholders). His expertise is used at the workshops, seminars and conferences of the Management, Control and Audit of EU Funds, organized by the European Academy for Taxes, Economics and Law in Berlin. He teaches the summer course “Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Public Sector” and many other similar events organized by Lexxion Publisher, based in Berlin and Brussels.

Partners

This learning initiative was supported by: