Exciting Take-Aways from the ACFE’s Global Fraud Conference

Late Sunday night, I arrived in Baltimore and checked into my hotel. It was hard to sleep because I was so excited about attending the ACFE’s 26^th Global Fraud Conference. The conference is an amazing event that allows members to learn new ways to fight fraud and connect with other professionals. With over 70 sessions, I will learn about forensic data analysis, ethical behavior and everything in between. The conference is attended by over 3,000 professionals from over 60 countries. I will meet new people and reconnect with friends I haven’t seen in years.

On the first day of the conference, the content and connections never stopped flowing beginning with breakfast and ending with drinks at Pratt Street Ale House. Throughout the day, I was overwhelmed with new information and ideas. Here are a few ideas that I have added to my fraud-fighting tool box:

1. Cyber-attacks will be a huge issue for anti-fraud professionals. We need to be able to help clients understand the risks and advise them on ways to address those risks.
2. There is plenty of room at the top if you want to become a leader. Leading is more about attitude and focus, rather than opportunity. We can make our own opportunities.
3. Engaged and well-trained employees are an important piece of fraud and cybercrime prevention. Employee training can be controlled by a company, but it is very difficult for a company to manage an employee’s engagement level.
4. An individual’s ethical behavior is not static. There is an ethical continuum that changes as their personal situation and business environment change.

Next week’s blog will sum up the rest of my conference experiences, and I am certain there will be plenty of future blog ideas developed over this three-day conference.