PiNaysaAmerika: Forensic Accounting-The Case of the 200 Hundred Million Check

Monday, January 24, 2011

Forensic Accounting-The Case of the 200 Hundred Million Check

Dear insansapinas,

Bago ko i-discuss ang topic na ito, meron munang pasakalye. Music, maestro please.

Maraming naguguluhan at nagtatanong ano nga ba ang profession mo, teh? Nagi akong auditor, chief accountant, academician, runner ng fashion designer noong ako ay nasa high school pa. Tagatakbo ako sa Divisoria pag may kailangang mga tela, beads, threads at iba pa. Naggantsilyo rin ako para maipagbili at madagdagan ang aking allowance sa school. Kulang na lang ang tumulay ako sa alambre.
Lahat ng ito ay ayaw ng mother ko kasi gusto niya magconcentrate ako sa school. Tigas ulo kasi eh.

I started my accounting profession as an audit assistant. (tagadala ng portfolio, tagabili ng pagkain at taga tagatasa ng lapis ng auditor). Minsan look-out pa ako sa boyfriend niyang susundo sa kaniya. Sus.

I was an accounting intern then in an auditing company. On- the- job training baga pero may allowance kami at hindi kami nagbabayad kagaya ng mga nursing grads. (sapul ba?). Libre pa ang worksheet (yong malapad na yellow na may mga columns, ngayon pwede ng gawin sa computer). Kaya mabangong-mabango ang pangalan namin sa mga kaklase (dalawa kami sa kumpaniyang yon). Hingi-hingi sila ng hingi lalo pag may exam sa Accounting.

Isang araw, nagpanic sa office. Hindi sumipot ang aming magandang auditor. Kamukha siya ng isang artista. Sophisticated looking, maganda ang make-up (mukha nga akong tagadala ng sapatos niya). Nagtanan daw sa kaniyang Tsinoy na boyfriend. Ahhhh. (may kwento ako diyan later).

Wala silang maipadadala sa client. Sabay-sabay silang tumingin sa akin, (hindi po, hindi po ako ang nabigay ng notice kung saan sila magkikita, bwahaha) at sabi ikaw, ikaw ang papalit. Biglang promoted ako. Biglang taas din ang height ko. Pinaghighheels ako eh.

Pagdating sa client, ignore mode ang accountant sa akin. Kung baga ang tingin niya, may gatas pa ako sa labi. Hindi sila natatakot. Bagito pa ako. hahaha.

Case 1
Lapping. Hindi po ito ang hahaha at bwahahaha. Ito ay practice ng mga hudas, balasubas at hestas na mga empleyado na nagnanakaw sa kumpaniya. Alalahanin ninyo, hindi nagagawa ang mga fraud na ito kung walang connivance.

Ito ang explanation diyan.

The process is simple: An employee or accomplice opens a bank account using a name similar to the company's name and deposits checks meant for the company. The employee may conceal this fraud by using the payment from another customer to credit the account of the customer whose payment the employee diverted to the bogus company. For example, customer A pays $1,000 on their account, but the employee endorses the check and deposits it into the bogus company's account. When customer B makes a payment on their account the employee will credit the payment to customer A's account. This is known as lapping, and it may go on for an extended period depending on the extent of internal controls a company has in place.

Sa kasong unang sinalaksak sa akin. Ganito ang nangyari. Yong bookkeeper at cashier ay magka-accomplice. Ang cashier ang tumatanggap ng bayad, at ang bookkeeper at tagapost ng bayad sa ledger ng mga customer.

Ano ang aking tiningnan? Yong mga receipts at ang mga accounts ng customer. Sa isang receipt, may tinangap na 500 pesoses pero ang nakapost sa payment niya ay 200 pesoses lang. Three hundred ibinulsa.

May sumunod na entry, 300 pesoses pero wala naman akong nakitang recibo. Meron para sa isang customer. Aha. Tinally ko ang mga recibo, hindi nagreconcile sa idiniposito ng araw na yon. Mas mababa ang deposit sa receipts. Hmmm. Tuloy-tuloy ako sa ginawa ko. Ngiting aso ang mga bruho. Bakit hindi nakita ng ibang auditor ng anomaly na iyon. Ganoon ba ako kagaling sa kanila. Naah, Virginia, nakita nila ang mga mali pero mas pinili nilang hindi makita. Kung anong rason nila, yon ang kanilang problema.

Umabot sa 100,000 pesoses ang nawawala. Nagreport ako mismo sa may-ari ng audit company. Gulat siya.

Kinausap niya ang management. Balak idemanda ang mga nasabing tao. Sabi ni boss, witness daw ako. Pupunta ako sa korte. Ngiii. Buti na lang nag out-of-court settlement. Babayaran ng dalawa ang nawalang pera. Ako naman naging paranoid. Parang palaging may nakasunod sa akin. Eeeek.

Case 2

Ang nawawalang libo-libong pera. Ako naman ang pinadala ni Boss. Hindi pa ako tapos na aking audit, may masamang balita. Nagsuicide ang treasurer. Ngiii.

Case 3

Ang sangkot naman ay ang President at CEO ng isang organisasyon. Nagtayo rin sila ng bogus company kung saan binabayaran nila ng mga services na non-existent naman. Resign silang bigla dahil sa findings ng aking audit. Ahem.

Sinong nagsabing boring ang buhay ng accountant at auditor?

The Case of the 200 million check and the travails of the State Auditor
Bilib ako sa dating State Auditor na si Heidi Mendoza.

Hindi siya nagpapressure sa kaniyang mga superiors. Ito ang sinasabi ko na minsan hindi dahil istupido ang mga ibang auditor kaya di nila nakikita ang mga anomalya. Talagang sinasara lang nila ang kanilang mata na pwedeng natatakpan ng mga libo-libong halaga.
Simple lang naman ang aming sinusunod sa audit. "Should be entry" versus "actual erroneous entry made" or "no entry "at all equals anomaly.

Pero hindi si Heidi nagpapressure.

Early on, Mendoza received messages to “go slow” on Garcia. “Dahan-dahan lang,” she recalled being told by a government executive.

On another occasion, people within the Armed Forces told her that her investigation was futile because five of her bosses at COA were purportedly receiving favors from the military.

TSEH.

Transfer of funds

In Mendoza’s court testimony, she revealed that she unearthed a suspicious transfer of funds from the AFP’s Land Bank account to a private bank. The payee was the AFP Inter-Agency Trust Fund. The transaction involving P200 million was made on November 28, 2002.

In the private bank, it was made to appear that the amount was deposited in only one account. However, the account had two passbooks, one which showed a deposit of P100 million, and the other, P50 million.

Mendoza testified how she discovered the other bank book showing P50 million, but it seemed falsified as the deposit entry was not machine validated, as the usual practice, but was typewritten. There was also no record of the deposit when she had checked the private bank’s branch.

Also, Mendoza testified how the inter-agency account in the private bank was not booked, thus, the transfer of cash was not reflected in the AFP’s books of accounts.

Ito ang explanation niya.

Finally, one day, afer spending a day and a half in a dusty “bodega” (storage room) of the AFP, she and her team of auditors finally came upon the P200 million transaction.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. “Ginulo talaga nila ang files (They really messed up the files),” Mendoza said.

The auditors had to rifle through every folder and scrutinize each document it contained to find the “smoking gun” evidence against Garcia.

Mendoza’s team turned up a memorandum dated Nov. 21, 2002 in which Garcia authorized the opening of an “AFP Inter-Agency Transfer Fund” account with the UCPB in the amount of the P200 million.

The account name itself was already questionable because, Mendoza said, it refers to an entity—the AFP Inter-agency Transfer Fund—that does not exist.

Bogus account. Ginagamit talaga sa lapping practices.

Through an undated disbursement voucher he and Col. Fernando S. Zabat signed, a check in the amount of P200 million and dated Nov. 28, 2002 was issued from the AFP’s Land Bank account and deposited to the newly opened UCBP account. The account was a savings account (No. 132-1121-431-8) linked to a current account (No. 132-002-731-6) with an automatic transfer feature.

Sabi na sainyo hindi pwede ang isa lang. May kaaccomplice talaga. Pwedeng sa loob at labas.

Strangely, the check cleared on the same day. The normal clearing period for checks of other banks is three days.

Dumadaan kasi ang mga check sa clearing house ng banking system. Lalo na ang malalaking halaga.

Stranger still was that the entire P200 million was never deposited to the AFP Inter-Agency Transfer Fund account as the disbursement voucher had intended.

Although the endorsement at the back of the check made it appear the entire amount had gone to the AFP account, auditors discovered that only P50 million was placed in Saving Accounts No. 132-1121-431-8 after the check was encashed.

Lahat na yata ang cash internal control ay naviolate sa transaction na ito.

1. Deposit preparation -Maraming companies ang nagrerequire ng several forms para lang sa pagdeposit sa bangko. Ang mga dcomentong ito ang tinitingnan ng mga auditor.

2. Deposit posting- Ang mga auditor ay tinitrace ang mga entries ng mga deposit na ito sa libro. Pag wala itong entry sa banko, ito ay may anomalya.