Most of us love the theatre and the movies, but can we use theatrical and movie making techniques in fraud and corruption training programmes?
We can and should, argues Nigel Iyer of fraud prevention consultancy Hibis Scandinavia. However, to make them interesting, credible and realistic, characters and storylines must be well crafted, he adds.
A rare example of a well-crafted movie was The Billion Dollar Bubble, a 1976 reconstruction of one of the largest 20th century US frauds concerning the Equity Funding Corporation of America. In it, Harvey Goldblum, the megalomaniac chief executive (played by the late Sam Wanamaker) persuades his chief actuary (James Woods) to create fake insurance policies in the computer. Harvey needs this so that sales equal what he already has announced to the market. When they are unable to make up the shortfall, they go on to take the dramatic step of selling these policies to the re-insurers. It is only when someone on the outside notices that in a few years Equity Funding will be insuring more people than the entire United States, that the bubble burst and the main perpetrators are arrested. The quality of the script, characterisation and acting all contributed to a highly instructive film.
Power shift scene
Although the number of documentary films and reconstructions are rising, fraud and corruption is the central theme in very small percentage of dramatic and literary work. And in the main, the teaching value of these dramas is limited, possibly because the writer either is not an expert in the subject or they chose to focus on the more sensationalist aspects of the scandal, to engage a wider audience. Conversely textbooks about fraud and corruption are generally seen as dry and something for the specialists. A way of making the management of fraud and corruption appeal to a wider audience is to pepper training session with short stories, examples, typical documents used in fraud, role play and interactive films and web-based training. Role-playing where participants eventually become the characters in a typical power shift scene like the example here often comes at the end of the case. However care needs to be taken with fictitious case studies and role-play exercises so they are not stilted or embarrassing.
Interview with a suspect
A typical role-play exercise, which works well in training, is the ‘interview with a suspect’ at the tail end of a document-based case study. The role of the interviewer is usually much more demanding largely because people like the challenge of trying not to get caught out and often play the suspect role to the full.
Dialogue with managers
Another situation which lends itself well to training is the ‘dialogue with the senior management about fraud and corruption’. In these training sessions participants, in small groups, are asked to study the results of a ‘corporate health check’. They are then told that in 15 minutes that one of them had to make a five-minute presentation of these findings to the local xhief executive office and chief financial officer (also played by participants). These two senior managers have somehow had got wind that a review was taking place, are keen to get their hands on the findings and would like a speedy resolution. The participants, who generally have no background in acting, often excel in their roles. The set-up tends to bring out the best in them. On one memorable occasion, the executives behaved like such bullies that the presenter started stuttering and trembling – so much so that for a while they were not on speaking terms, although this situation was rectified over a couple of drinks in the bar later that evening. Case study followed by role-play often brings out the sort of realism of dealing with fraud and corruption which is hard to demonstrate in text books, such as:
l How difficult it is to perform an interview with someone suspected of fraud and corruption, however solid the evidence may appear to be; and
l Senior management’s inherent desire to getting a quick solution or deflect criticism from themselves, rather than getting to the bottom of the problem;
l and the difficulties of breaking taboos and talking more openly about the risks of fraud and corruption in organisations.
All aspects and variants of fraud and corruption can be portrayed and taught in this way, not just the headline-grabbing, Hollywood-style plots. In some instances the case examples which include realistic stories and characters work have also worked well as interactive internet-based training. In the novel The Tightrope, we have tried to depict the challenges and risks involved in a journey through fraud and corruption seen through the eyes of a mid-40s, but still relatively naïve, risk manager. The novel mirrors the longer and more sober textbook on the flip-side. Well-developed realistic fiction is often easier to relate to in training sessions than either well-known examples taken from the press because participants often argue that this would not apply in their own company. Therefore, when rolling out practical training in fraud and corruption I would recommend:
l Developing and using realistic case studies which fit the nature of your organisation and its characters;
l Using role play to bring out the difficulties of talking about fraud and corruption, whether it be with a superior, a colleague or even a suspected perpetrator;
l Finding and using or even developing short films which illustrate the issues;
l and above all involving your participants in the training as much as possible.
About the writer: Nigel Iyer qualified first as a Chartered Accountant, then worked for several years as an investigator. He now focuses mainly on the active prevention of fraud and corruption.
About the corporate health check: Also known as a Fraud and Corruption Detection Review (discussed in chapter five of Fraud and Corruption – Prevention and Detection, by Nigel Iyer and Martin Samociuk. The book, which includes the novel The Tightrope, was reviewed by Mark Rowe in Professional Security last issue. Fraud and Corruption is published by Gower, visit:
