The Examiner – Insights on Fighting Financial Fraud

My ultramarathon is less than a week away, and I am questioning my sanity every time I think about running 31 miles. I have never run farther than a marathon distance (26.2 miles), and I’ve only done that twice. I have never run a trail race, which contains plenty of hills, roots, mud, and dirt. Plus, I am over 40 years old. Did I train enough, did I put in enough miles, did I run enough hills, and how many mistakes have I made along the way?

Analyzing data is such a great topic. My goal with this post is to provide you with a structured way to tackle your next data analytics project. Although there are many reasons to perform data analytics, you should always focus on the tic-tac-toe method, that is horizontal, vertical and diagonal.

As promised, this blog is a continuation of last week’s topic, data analysis. We will dive into the third tip related to selecting the right tools. Tools have been used for ages to help humans perform complex tasks. From the creation of the wheel that accelerated transportation to the invention of electricity shaping the way we live, tools help us accomplish tasks that otherwise might appear impossible.

In the business world, we create an overwhelming amount of data every day. This data can be extremely useful to us if we know how to convert it into meaningful information. Once you have meaningful information, it can be interpreted, which will allow you to draw conclusions and take actions.

Is Valentine’s Day a celebration, holiday, or a day of observance? It probably doesn’t matter how you define it, because you either have someone to celebrate with or you don’t. If you have a Valentine, you probably feel obligated to buy a card, flowers, chocolate or all of them. If you don’t have one, then you are reminded that being alone sucks and you wish you could buy meaningless gifts for someone.

In last week’s blog, I introduced you to Winfrey who wrote a letter of confession to her boss. She covered a lot of territory in the letter, but there were also plenty of gaps. The information in the letter is similar to the story an owner starts putting together when the red flags of fraud begin to reveal themselves.

I wrote this letter to give you a glimpse into the mind of a fraudster. The scenarios, people, and names are fictional.

Dear Jane,

It is with heavy heart that I am writing this letter, but the overwhelming feeling of guilt has been eating at me for the past few years. I am so very sorry for what I am about to tell you and hope that you will find a way to forgive me. I know that it may take some time, but I think you will understand that I was only doing what I had to do.

I started feeling sick last Thursday and the symptoms got worse over the weekend. The symptoms are slowly moving from my head to my chest. It seems to be a really bad cold and maybe something else. I am beating myself up because I probably pushed my body too hard during the marathon, which weakened my immune system. But being sick is throwing a wrench into my ultramarathon training plan.

On Sunday, I completed the Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge, which was my second marathon and was much more challenging than my first. I trained harder for this one—I ran more miles and focused on enhancing my pace. My primary goal was to beat my personal record, but I really wanted to run it in less than 4 hours. I was on pace to beat the 4 hour mark through the 19^th mile, but then things started to fall apart.

My family and I started 2016 with a bang! We popped fireworks and spent time with friends. On the 1^st, we ate plenty of cabbage, black eyed peas, and pork for lots of good health, wealth and happiness. As some of you know, I am not a big fan of green veggies, and you are probably wondering how I was able to eat cabbage. Well . . . my mother passed along a recipe for cabbage casserole that is amazing. We cook it every year, and all who taste it agree that it is delicious. Even our kids enjoy it.