A criminologist, Donald R. Cressey, coined the Fraud Triangle (2). It describes the three main causes fraud and corruption. In any organisation, 2 out of every 3 people will commit fraud if all the three conditions are present i.e. they have pressure (incentive or motive), opportunity (absence of controls) and rationalization (justification for wrongdoing). It is a human condition to want to get rich quick, leave beyond our means, show appearances, want to live in a house costing a monthly rent of Ugx 500,000 when our monthly salary is just Ugx. 600,000! Sometimes it is due to peer pressure or just…

The Black’s Law Dictionary defines fraud as a knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact to induce another to act to his or her detriment. According to the ACFE, “fraud is the intentional misrepresentation of a material fact, to cause again to one party and a loss to another party.” From this we see the elements of fraud: (1) Intent (You are of sound mind. Know the right thing to do in the circumstances). (2) Misrepresentation (you tell lies knowingly i.e., misleading statement of fact). (3) For personal or friend’s benefit. (4) At the loss or…

With a heavy heart, today I paid over the US $120 fees to an international professional body as an annual membership fee. Why pay all that money during these tough pandemic times, you may ask. And you are right to ask. I find this kind of annual payment some form of fraud.  In the past, I would ‘waste’ such money on over seven professional bodies. I scaled it to two of which one is for the local professional body, as membership is critical to developing the local professionals in our country. This I pay with one heart. The country needs…

The NRM story goes — the focus of this Kisanja2026 is transformation. To transform is to cross “form” – from one form to another. The transatlantic helps you cross the Atlantic Ocean.  The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event where Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon a mountain. The Parish model and Emyooga initiatives transformation are intended to promote savings, household support to enable people to cross “form” from poverty to middle income, the specifics which have been clearly defined in the National Development Plan 3 (NDP III), that feeds well into vision 2040. The transformation agenda…

Which academic qualifications do you need to do to achieve career aspirations in your life? One such qualification is Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). This is one of premier qualifications administered by a global body; Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. I want you to take a moment and understand why you need CFE. When you are sick, you go to the medical doctor. When you want to get new knowledge, you look for a teacher. When you want to express an opinion on your financial statement, you seek an external auditor. But where do you go when you want to determine…

#mindspark. I need guidance. Many times my company receives requests for pre-qualification bids, where you are required sometimes to pay a fee to apply to be prequalified so you may bid to provide services in the future. Do pre-qualification bids work? Educate me. In the past, I would commit time and resources to pre-qualification building until I realized it was another wastage of our time and resources. If a company wants to work with a specific vendor, they will do all it takes to get the vendor to apply even if they had not been pre-qualified since the law or…