1.Rob Ellis is a forensic accountant who has been engaged to investigate a case of electronic fraud at Weezer, a company that operates a chain of wholesale restaurant supplystores in the Houston area.Sonya Goyos, Weezer\u00e2\u0080\u0099s controller, first contacted Rob. She tells him that she\u00e2\u0080\u0099s discov\u00c2\u00adered that one of several employees working in the main office has been stealing company blank checks.The main checkbook is normally kept locked in the office desk of the CFO\u00e2\u0080\u0099s secretary. Only the CFO, the secretary, two accountants, and the company janitor normally have access to the CFO\u00e2\u0080\u0099s office suite.Sonya discovered the problem in a routine reconciliation of the bank statement againstthe cash disbursements ledger. The reconciliation revealed two paid checks in theamounts of $1,324 and $1,726, both made payable to and cashed by Maximo Gomez.Sonya\u00e2\u0080\u0099s follow-up investigation revealed that both checks had been cashed in the drive-thru window of Weezer\u00e2\u0080\u0099s bank, and on both occasions the teller had writtenMaximo\u00e2\u0080\u0099s driver\u00e2\u0080\u0099s license number and address on the back of the checks.Sonya reported the two checks to the check fraud division of the local district attor\u00c2\u00adney\u00e2\u0080\u0099s office. Two weeks later, she received a call from one of the investigators. He hadvisited Maximo\u00e2\u0080\u0099s residence and found that he had been very ill and immobile for sev\u00c2\u00aderal months. It seemed apparent that Maximo was the victim of identity theft and had nothing to do with cashing the stolen checks.\u00e2\u0080\u009cWe see this all the time,\u00e2\u0080\u009d said the investigator. \u00e2\u0080\u009cWe have the videos of the personcashing the checks.\u00e2\u0080\u009d He was obviously wearing a wig and sunglasses. He also knew exactly how to position his head to minimize his exposure to the bank\u00e2\u0080\u0099s surveillancecamera.\u00e2\u0080\u009cWhat about a license plate number?\u00e2\u0080\u009d Sonya asked. \u00e2\u0080\u009cDid that show up on the video?\u00e2\u0080\u009d\u00e2\u0080\u009cYes, but it was unreadable. This guy was a real professional. It appears that he putsome kind of reflective coating on the license plate to confuse the camera.\u00e2\u0080\u009dSonya was really frustrated. Her preliminary conversations with the bank led her tobelieve that Weezer would have to eat the losses because a company employee was obviously involved in the scheme. Even worse, she had a strong feeling that the prob\u00c2\u00adlem would happen again. There was really no way to keep the bank from cashing the checks, and next time the losses could be even worse.Sonya discussed the problem with Harry Winkler, the CEO. He strongly insisted thatSonya focus on catching the crook because doing that was more important than takinga chance that the problem might happen again. She replied that she wanted to place ahidden surveillance camera in the CFO\u00e2\u0080\u0099s office, but Harry refused because he wasafraid of the possible consequences of spying on his CFO whose family connectionswere important to Weezer\u00e2\u0080\u0099s survival.\u00e2\u0080\u009cNo, I want you to gather evidence from what you have already,\u00e2\u0080\u009d Harry said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cHire a forensic accountant and let the accountant provide some evidence as to who did it. If that evidence is good, then I\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll consider installing a spy camera.\u00e2\u0080\u009dRob was hired to conduct a preliminary investigation that involved a handwriting anal\u00c2\u00adysis of the checks. He was not a handwriting expert, but he quickly found that therewas no obvious correspondence between any of the handwriting on the bad checks tothe handwriting of any of the employee suspects. He concluded that he needed to inter\u00c2\u00adview each of the suspects and perhaps obtain a confession.Rob decided to conduct the first interview with Maria Ladronia, the CFO\u00e2\u0080\u0099s secretary.Both he and Sonya considered Maria to be the prime suspect. Rob conducted the inter\u00c2\u00adview in an empty conference room. She sat directly across from him on the other side of the table.\u00e2\u0080\u009cHello, I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m Rob Ellis,\u00e2\u0080\u009d he said to her. \u00e2\u0080\u009cI\u00e2\u0080\u0099m a certified fraud examiner from the Wilsonand Larson Accounting Firm.\u00e2\u0080\u009d I need to ask you only a few questions.Maria stiffened.\u00e2\u0080\u009cPlease don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t worry; you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re not being accused of doing anything wrong. I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m just herefor a routine investigation.\u00e2\u0080\u009dHis reassurance did not seem to help, and Maria only looked more nervous. Rob won\u00c2\u00addered if Maria was acting guilty.\u00e2\u0080\u009cDo you know what I am investigating?\u00e2\u0080\u009d Rob asked.Maria shook her head back and forth, still sitting straight up in her chair like a lamppost.\u00e2\u0080\u009cSomeone stole checks from your boss\u00e2\u0080\u0099s desk,\u00e2\u0080\u009d Rob told her.\u00e2\u0080\u009cAre you a policeman?\u00e2\u0080\u009d she asks.Rob tried to speak in a calm and reassuring voice, \u00e2\u0080\u009cNo, just an accountant.\u00e2\u0080\u009d Maria began to cry softly, but she still remained upright and stiff.\u00e2\u0080\u009cWhy are you crying?\u00e2\u0080\u009d Rob asked.\u00e2\u0080\u009cI don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t want to lose my job. I have two kids in private school, and my husband and I can barely make ends meet.\u00e2\u0080\u009dRob decides that Maria was acting very guilty and decided to get right to the heart ofthe matter.\u00e2\u0080\u009cOk,\u00e2\u0080\u009d he said. \u00e2\u0080\u009cWe do have information that points straight to you. You might as wellconfess. Help me out, and I\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll see if I can convince your boss not to press charges.\u00e2\u0080\u009dMaria became very quiet, and for a time Rob heard only the hum of the overhead flo\u00c2\u00adrescent lights. Finally, Maria spoke. \u00e2\u0080\u009cYou\u00e2\u0080\u0099re accusing me. I want a lawyer, and I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m not going to talk to you. And I\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll sue both you and my company if anything happens to me.\u00e2\u0080\u009dShe got up and walked out of the room.a.How well did Rob handle the interview?b.How well did Rob handle the overall investigation?c.What might Rob have done differently?What is Rob\u00e2\u0080\u0099s assessment of Maria\u00e2\u0080\u0099s responses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1.Rob Ellis is a forensic accountant who has been engaged to investigate a case of electronic fraud at Weezer, a company that operates a chain of wholesale restaurant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9473],"tags":[9480,9485,9479,9481],"class_list":["post-80295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-write-harbor-research-paper-assistance-for-graduates","tag-assessment-and-homework-help-australia-for-university-students","tag-speedy-essays-and-homework-solutions-for-last-minute-deadlines","tag-affordable-dissertation-writing-help-for-students-worldwide","tag-expert-usa-assignment-answers-examples-and-samples"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homeworkacetutors.com\/assessments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}