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Course at Assumption Responds to Fraud in the Workplace
 August,
2004—The recent high-profile financial scandals at
international powerhouses such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco have
rocked the business world. Feeling the need to educate students
about the implications of corporate duplicity and deceit, Assumption
College’s Department of Business Studies decided to design
a course that would address the growing issue of fraud in the workforce.
After careful
planning and development, Accounting/Management 330: Fraud Examination
became the newest undergraduate course offering for business majors.
Frank Marino, associate professor of Accounting, will teach this
class for the second time during the 2004-2005 school year.
“There is now an increased public awareness of fraud, which
makes this a pertinent issue. The ethical issues related to this
course also fit in nicely with our liberal arts curriculum,”
said Marino.
The course
examines the subject of fraud from both management and accounting
perspectives. Utilizing a variety of techniques, including text,
lecture, case studies, and occasional training videos, the course
seeks to familiarize students with the conditions that facilitate
fraud, the profile of the fraud perpetrator, common types of fraud,
and methods of prevention, detection, and resolution. Numerous historical
cases of fraud are examined.
The course was created with the help of materials from the Association
of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), an organization dedicated to
providing anti-fraud training and education to professionals, colleges,
and universities across the country. The ACFE has provided a series
of case studies, videos, manuals, and sample syllabi from other
colleges, which Marino uses as part of his curriculum.
While other
colleges who have adopted a fraud-examination course tend to tailor
it to accounting majors, Marino has been careful to devise Assumption's
to appeal to both accounting and management majors.
“Fraud examination doesn’t apply to just accounting
majors,” says Marino. “Management majors can certainly
benefit from learning about the detection and prevention of fraud.”
Fraud Examination was first offered to undergraduate majors in the
spring of 2004, and it garnered positive feedback from students
who found the material useful and interesting. Marino cites one
particularly effective teaching tool that he will most likely try
again: the guest lecture of an Assumption alumnus who currently
works as an investigator in the growing field of fraud examination.
Philip A. Benvenuti '90 is currently Manager of Internal Audit and
Fraud Detection for the CPA firm of Sansiveri, Kimball & McNamee
in Providence, RI. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified
Internal Auditor, and a Fraud Claims Law Specialist. With more than
14 years of experience of internal audit and fraud investigation,
he was a natural choice to speak to the undergrads taking the Fraud
Examination course.
Benvenuti was thrilled to be a part of Marino’s syllabus,
as he believes students should definitely learn about fraud as an
integral part of their coursework.
“Studies have shown that fraud losses cost U.S. businesses
an average of $660 billion per year,” Benvenuti said. “As
fraud examiners, we have the opportunity to use our expertise and
knowledge to help businesses prevent and detect fraud. The landscape
of business has really changed since I was a student; fraud is more
prominent and public now. It’s good for students to learn
this now, to take that with them once they graduate and start working.”
“This is a very timely subject,” Marino
said. “It’s good for students who are going out into
the business world to know that this exists. You can’t assume
that every company is operating honestly.”
The Business Studies Department at Assumption College is one of
the College's largest departments, offering more than 40 undergraduate
courses in Accounting, International Business, Marketing, Management,
and Organizational Communication. Assumption also offers the MBA
with seven areas of concentration, as well as a five-year BA/MBA
option for Accounting majors. In addition, through its Center for
Continuing Education and Professional Education, Assumption offers
associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration
in Accounting and Management, as well as certificate programs in
Accounting, Accounting with a CPA track, Business Communications,
Graphic Design, Human Resource Management, and noncredit certificate
programs in Medical Coding and Billing. Local companies can also
contract with the College's Corporate Education Center for customized,
on-site programs for their employees.
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