Based in Oakland, California, Brenda Roberts has spent over a decade as a professional internal auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Ms. Roberts has worked in public accounting firms, and for public and private companies and government agencies. In addition, Brenda Roberts has been a member of several professional organizations, including the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), which has recently highlighted the potential for fraud in higher education institutions.

The ACFE notes that colleges and universities can be as vulnerable to fraud as other organizations; and their vulnerability to misdeeds can be exasperated by the de-centralized structure of many universities. In some cases, department chairs or others are provided a high level of authority without the needed oversight. ACFE claims there are a variety of ways in which a university could be a victim of fraud. And this has been most evident this past year in the high-profile admissions scandals of prominent US colleges.

Fraud has a wide-spread negative impact on its victims, and educational institutions are particularly hard-hit. Most universities have diligently built their reputation and ‘brand’ over many decades. Acts of wrong-doing can derail this hard-earned image as a trustworthy organization in a short period of time, impacting the school’s ability to secure its endowments, attract students, professors and employees, and could even displace its position in its community.

Certified Fraud Examiners and Internal Auditors play an important role in preventing fraud through regular fraud awareness programs and trainings, promoting ethics policies and conducting investigations to identify and root out waste, abuse and fraud.

For more information about the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, visit their website at www.acfe.com.