June 2019:
A recent financial research paper suggested 58% of UK small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) have invested in some form of resilience during the past 12 months. It is clear from these figures that business owners and managers are taking the necessary steps to protect themselves against new challenges – including Brexit, cashflow problems and financial uncertainty. In times of financial difficulty, recession or uncertainty, business owners should look to cut costs to help their company become resilient. One key area to look at is within the organisation itself.
Expense fraud is the most common type of fraud and is a significant threat to a business. Fabricated expenses can often be an easy way for an employee to get reimbursed for personal purchases, by inflating their mileage, client entertainment costs, or submitting multiple reimbursements for the same thing. The amounts are usually little and often, enabling the employee to subtly fly under the radar. The preventative answer is to design and implement an expenses policy with clearly defined guidelines – one that requires a dual signature process, questions expenditure and requests original receipts. Using your time wisely during uncertainty is a good opportunity to stabilise your financial position and review your audits, processes and expenditure. Keep a keen eye out for details or anomalies – in our experience, suspicions of fraud are normally well founded.
It has been a year since GDPR officially went into effect – how was your GDPR journey?
Our journey continues daily, and we consistently test our data security compliance. A year has passed since the legislation for GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 was officially implemented in the UK. After an extensive annual audit by the British Assessment Bureau, I am pleased to confirm our ISO 27001 Information Security accreditation has been renewed. If your organisation needs increased resilience, whether it be fraud, cyber or data related, then please let us help you.
ISO 27001 certification gained by TenIntelligence for another year
Neil Miller, Chief Executive Officer, commended the team’s effort in maintaining our high standards of excellence and said: ‘‘Confidentiality, integrity and the protection of data continues to be of paramount importance to our clients, and our successful re-certification demonstrates TenIntelligence’s commitment to data security.
How do geopolitical cyber-attacks affect the average UK SME?
It is not unusual these days to hear about a corporate or public entity being subject to a cyberattack or losing large quantities of data. The attacks garnering most attention are, characteristically, not perpetrated by a bored teenager (a so-called ‘’script kiddie’’) but are instead state-sponsored and geopolitical in nature.
Is your company taking due diligence seriously?
When 75% of our background checks identify flags, a simple Google search isn’t enough. Having the right background information allows organisations to work with confidence, compliance and assurance. Our Due Diligence Team completed over 600 background checks during 2018. As part of our analysis into these checks, we implemented a simple traffic light system, giving each background check a status of Red, Amber or Green. Red showed a significant red flag had been found; Amber confirmed that discrepancies were identified; whilst Green meant there were no issues identified on their CV or application form. From our research, a total of 75% cases were identified as an Amber (69%) or Red flag (6%).
Anti-fraud learning – a personal perspective
Attending the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) anti-fraud masterclass organised by the Open Thinking Academy in Dubai was beneficial for Dubai Analyst, Reem Ramadan, to learn more about becoming a fraud examiner, and an opportunity for her to be introduced to other professionals in the field, as well as presenting TenIntelligence to a wider audience.
Counterfeit goods seized in Sharjah
TenIntelligence, in partnership with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and Sharjah Criminal Investigation Department (CID), has successfully carried out raids on counterfeit electronic products. Our Dubai team worked with UL, a global independent safety science company, to assist officers from Sharjah CID in identifying almost AED 4 million worth of counterfeit products and items that featured unauthorised trademarks.