Case Study - The Trusted Employee

Mike McEnroe owns a small telecommunications company in Austin, TX. Faith Hilton has been an employee in Mike's company since he started it 19 years ago, and she is currently the accountant/administrative assistant. She has been an exceptional employee who works long hours.

Recently, she was involved in an automobile accident and was hospitalized. While she was out, Mike had to perform some of Faith's duties, which included opening mail, paying bills, and record keeping. In opening the mail from the bank, Mike was surprised to find three large canceled checks made out to Faith for: $15,000, $16,200, and $11,800.

Mike was surprised because he never signed blank checks, he didn't have a check-writing or -signing machine, and the signatures on those three canceled checks were his. In other words, the signatures were not forged. Mike has requested your services to investigate the extent of the fraud.

Write a 3-4 -page paper in MS Word ,responding to the following questions:

1. What elements of the fraud triangle showed up in this case? Identify and explain these elements.

2. What could have prevented the fraud?

3. How would you go about investigating this fraud?

Calculations are not required for this assignment, but may be included in a table within your paper to support your answers. APA format, 3 refencences, nclude introduction and conclusion.