Train staff to be effective fraud analysts and investigators

Type of countermeasure

This is a response countermeasure. Response countermeasures respond to fraud after it has occurred. They help to reduce the consequences or disrupt further consequences.

Summary

Provide staff with the knowledge and skills required to analyse and investigate different types of fraud.

Why this countermeasure matters

The prosecution must prove every element of an offence beyond reasonable doubt to convict someone. Poor or no staff training may lead to:

less effective investigations
important details being missed
prosecutions being impacted.

How you might apply this countermeasure

Some ways to implement this countermeasure include making sure staff employed in compliance, investigations and fraud control:

hold the minimum required qualifications as outlined in the Australian Government Investigations Standards and Commonwealth Fraud Control Framework
have the necessary technical or specialist skills and qualifications to perform their role
have a good understanding of your organisation’s programs and functions.

How to check if your countermeasures are effective

To measure the effectiveness of this type of countermeasure:

analyse human resources data on training /qualifications for fraud investigators (this information is also reported to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) for their annual ‘Fraud against the Commonwealth’ census)
- benchmark results against:
  - Australian Government Investigations Standards
  - Similar departments (see AIC Fraud Against the Commonwealth Report)
review any additional training/qualifications provided to fraud analysts and investigators
review training and qualifications to see if they conform to national guidelines and frameworks
undertake a Training Needs Analysis with analysts and investigators. Confirm the training/qualifications are adequate for the type of fraud threats involved
survey analysts and investigators to decide if they have the level of confidence to investigate the specific type of fraud
review the Australian Public Service Commission Census results for teams involved in analysing and investigation fraud and check if staff feel they receive adequate training and support.

Related countermeasures

This type of countermeasure is supported by:

Establish governance, accountability and oversight

Establish governance, accountability and oversight of processes by using delegations and requiring committees and project boards to oversee critical decisions and risk. Good governance, accountability and oversight increases transparency and reduces the opportunity for fraud.

Collaborate with strategic partners

Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.

Create procedural instructions or guidance

Develop clear instructions and guidance for activities and processes, such as instructions for collecting the right information to verify eligibility or entitlements, procedures to help staff apply consistent and correct processes and guidance to help staff make correct and ethical decisions.

Conduct quality assurance checks

Conduct quality assurance activities to confirm that processes are being followed correctly and to a high standard.

Coordinate disruption

Coordinate disruption activities across multiple programs or entities to strengthen processes and identify serious and organised criminals targeting multiple programs. It can also include referrals to law enforcement agencies for those groups that reach the threshold for complex criminal investigations.