Business and Corporate Ethics Investigations and Forensic Accounting Toronto

Ethics and Compliance Investigations

Who is concerned about ethics and compliance investigations? What does it mean to your company? How can it benefit your firm? Our On-line Survey may help you determine if such investigations are relevant and beneficial to your firm.

If you agree with any of these statements, there is a way we can help you solve these problems and save you money in the process.

"Security of a business not only concerns itself with the issues that eventually end in the criminal courts. Successful business examines all behaviours and actions that will eventually impact on the bottom line and monitors these actions and behaviours effectively."

(Larry Holiday, Integrated Business Concepts)

Frauds and theft impact directly on the bottom line. If your margin on sales is 20% for example, you must sell five times your loss to recover losses from the theft of one item. This is straight forward but there are other costs involved as well, inventory shortages, lost sales, and management time to mention just a few.

Statistics show that 2% of the population will steal in quantity. Consequently, 2% of all sales can be reasonably lost to fraud or other forms of dishonesty. Remember, given the margin, 2% of sales can represent a significant portion of your profit. The 2% may be low given that 1% of the population is under the care of the courts for criminal offences.

Any dishonest or fraudulent act
Forgery or alterations of documents
Misappropriation of funds
Impropriety with respect to reporting financial transactions
Profiting from insider knowledge
Disclosing security transactions to others
Accepting gifts offered or receiving secret commissions
Destruction or disappearance of records or assets
Theft
Theft of proprietary information
Benefiting from illegal or unethical practices which impact on the employer and industry as whole, such as breach of trust, conflict of interest, and or breach of fiduciary duties
Breach of contract
Wilful non compliance of directives, procedures, etc.
Lack of due diligence particularly with respect to supervisors and purchasing agents
Neglect
Time theft

Theft of office supplies and equipment
Deceiving supervisors or co-workers
Theft of company funds
Non Compliance with safety policies
Non compliance with corporate policies
Drug and alcohol abuse
Sexual Harassment of subordinates and or co-workers
Theft of intellectual property
Theft of competitive information
Accepting or offering secret commissions
Inventory theft
Use of company assets for personal gain
Misdirection of inventory
Inappropriate or ineffective sales behaviour

Employees admit to being totally non-productive 7 hours a week (20% of the work week)
50% of Employees call in sick when they are not
16.5% used drugs or alcohol when working
50% of workers believe that it is politics that govern success, not their ability to perform their work
25% of workers expect to compromise their beliefs to get ahead on the job
Only 20% are very satisfied with their job
Workers on average state they only put in about 45% effort into their job

There are three main areas in which we may be of assistance:

Assisting our clients in the prevention of many of the activities discussed above.
Assisting our clients in efficiently investigating the matter, and providing methodologies to avoid any further problems in the future.
To prosecute those who have chosen to defraud, steal or not comply with corporate polices and goals to the detriment of the company. So that we may recover assets and lost profits, or in providing a deterrent to others who may contemplate similar activities.

Risk and needs assessments
Investigation, detection and implementing appropriate action
Increasing the perception of detection
Fraud awareness programs for all employees
Implementing and enforcing debt recovery from guilty parties
Reporting programs
Hotlines
Ethics and compliance lines
Devising rewards and incentives
Minimizing employee pressures
Developing lines of communication
Employee support or EAP programs
Development of Ethics and compliance policies
Pro-active audit policies
Fraud assessment questioning
Background Investigations and employment screening
Investigation of new clients

Undercover investigations where required
Surveillance of suspect employees
1. Drivers
2. WSIB Claims
3. Long Term Disability Claims
4. Static Surveillance in Theft Investigations
Effectiveness of sales people
Theft of proprietary information, who are employees meeting?
Interviews of Employees
Fraud Examination
Pretext Investigations
Compliance Testing
Integrity Testing
Forensic Audits
Civil Case Management
Criminal Case Management

We can assist our clients in determining the best course of action to take given the circumstances. Should the company proceed civilly in the hopes of recovering assets? Should the company proceed criminally to act as a deterrent and perhaps to gain compensation for losses? Is a reprimand or a dismissal, depending on the severity of the offence appropriate?

Reprimand
Probation
Suspension
Reduction of salary
Demotion
A combination of the above (Criminal and Civil)

In addition individual cases may involve:

Reimbursement of losses or damages through restitution
Referral for criminal or civil prosecution
A combination of the above
The bottom line is that regardless of the deviant or criminal act, or an ethical or compliance issue, it impacts on the profit of a business.

The Investigators Group , is a company, which provides comprehensive investigations not only in the area of Criminal matters but Ethics and Compliance issues. We have a vast array of investigative techniques at our disposal to service our client's specific requirements. Included among our investigative staff are former police officers, fraud specialists, undercover specialists and surveillance experts.

We feel it is our job to allow the client to make an informed choice on the course of action and options available to them. We provide professional investigators in the areas of fraud, ethics and compliance issues, surveillance, undercover operatives, and educators to meet all your needs.

The Investigators Group also has an alliance with other professionals who will assist in exercising the following options; the laying of criminal charges, proceeding with civil litigation, disciplining under administrative law, and various forms of debt recovery.

Report
Assist in creation of options,
Prepare for prosecution if necessary
Provide support through our alliance with:
1. Paralegal services
2. Debt recovery experts
3. Legal professionals

At The Investigators Group Inc. we are well prepared to assist you in the prevention, the investigation and in the prosecution of these activities. Our strategic alliances with professional para-legal firms and lawyers will allow you to know in advance the probability of recovering losses and the costs associated with ongoing prosecution.

We would be pleased to gain an opportunity to present our program to you.

Toronto Private Investigators

Ethics and Compliance Investigations

Burlington

Barrie

Lindsay

The Investigator's Group Inc.