Question: Emerel Company
You have been assigned to the Emerel Company embezzlement case by the owner of your CPA firm. The president of Emerel Company, as previously noted, has told you that Susan Smith, the assistant bookkeeper, has reported the suspected fraud. Susan has been filling in for the head bookkeeper, Mary Chernet, while Mary has been off for a couple of days. The president told you this is the first vacation that Mary has taken in three years. While reconciling the company's bank statements, Susan has found discrepancies in payees on checks. Susan has found checks written to credit card companies (Emerel does not use credit cards) and large reimbursements to Mary Chenet.
To analyze this case of fraud, you first need to gather some evidence, to give you some background on the company and the fraud suspect, and also to prove the fraud and calculate the fraud loss for Emerel Company.
You have determined that your next step is to conduct some interviews and you have developed the following list of potential interviewees at the Emerel Company and at the company bank:
Emerel employees:
John Smith, President
Mary Chernet, Head Bookkeeper
Susan Smith, Assistant Bookkeeper
Money Bank employee:
Larry Jones, Officer at Money Bank, where Emerel Company's bank accounts are located
Checklist:
1. Explain the five types of interview questions.
2. Discuss some behavioral, verbal, and nonverbal clues of deception.
3. Determine in what order you will conduct the interviews and explain why.
4. Develop a list of questions for each of the 4 interviewees.