The one case of fraud I helped uncover underscored the problem w today's auditors. It involved three ultra orthodox brothers who somehow convinced three insurance firms to lend them $60m to purchase a watch import firm in Rockville Center...

...The $60m promptly disappeared & I was brought in to assist a forensic accounting firm already on site. The twenty somethings spent a lot of time doing calculations using Excel exotic functions & wanted me to do the same to roll forward the inventory for the banks....

...every day. Out of curiosity, I took a look at the warehouse on the fourth floor & knew right off the bat there was no way the inventory numbers were accurate. Turned out merchandise was being stolen right under their noses via the freight elevator......

...Another mistake the overpaid twenty something know-it-alls made was treating the remaining ultra orthodox employees like crooks, I engaged them in conversation & eventually was shown how to access the second set of books...

...The point of this thread is not toot my own horn but to demonstrate why it is important for auditors to step away from their laptop screens & actually talk to people to learn more about whatever organization they're auditing....