SkyStem
By SkyStem
SkyStemJan 19, 2021
Fraud Diary - Janet Mello
This is the story of Janet Mello, a civilian who is accused of stealing $100 million from the Army.
Mastering Efficiency: How UWCU Elevated the Month-End Close Process Through Automation
University of Wisconsin Credit Union is a $5 Billion dollar institution headquartered in Madison, WI. With more than 300,000 members. UWCU is the third largest credit union in the state of Wisconsin and currently operates 29 full service branches throughout the Madison and Milwaukee metro areas. In this webinar, we will chat with Sandy O’Connor, the Director of Accounting Operations at UWCU, about her accounting team’s journey into the world of month-end close automation and how that made an impact on her team’s closing process today.
Fraud Diary - Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Fraud Diary - John Nock
This is the story of John Nock, an Arkansas businessman convicted in $18 million investment fraud conspiracy this September 2023
Fraud Story: Aimee Boch
Becoming a CEO With a Vision for Technology and Teamwork
Check out the latest episode of the CUES Podcast, "Becoming a CEO With a Vision for Technology and Teamwork," with guest Dana DeFilippis, CCE, CEO of Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union. Now CEO at the credit union for two years, DeFilippis has leveraged the knowledge she gathered to help her use technology and teamwork to promote staff innovation and better serve members.
Chit Chat: Elevating the Month-End Close Process Through Automation -- Lancaster Leaf
Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., Inc., is a subsidiary of Universal Corporation, the leading global leaf tobacco supplier. Lancaster Leaf manages Universal’s dark air cured tobacco operations in all relevant traditional dark air-cured origins. Lancaster Leaf supplies virtually all of the major cigar manufacturers in the U.S. with filler, binder, and wrapper from the U.S. and other origins.
In addition to domestic supply, Lancaster exports filler, binder, and wrapper to international cigar manufacturers. Lancaster Leaf contracts directly with farmers in all dark air cured growing regions around the world including the United States, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Paraguay, and Ecuador. Join Raul Perez, VP and CFO of Lancaster Leaf, in this one hour webinar as we discuss his team’s journey to modernizing his finance and accounting operations.
Fraud Diary - Ali and Yousef Jaafar
This is the story of Ali and Yousef Jaafar, a father and son who were sentenced to federal prison this month in connection with a massive "ten-percenting" scheme that resulted in over $20 million dollars in fraudulent lottery winnings.
Fraud Diary: George Constantine, Marc Elefant and Andrew Dowd
This is the story of George Constantine, Marc Elefant and Andrew Dowd. These three individuals, together with others, attempted to defraud their victims of more than $31,000,000 through "trip and fall" accidents in New York.
Episode source: https://dailyvoice.com/new-york/mamaroneck/31m-trip-fall-fraud-scheme-attorneys-doctor-sentenced-for-defrauding-ny-businesses/
Fraud Diary - Guo Wengui
This is the story of Guo Wengui, who was arrested this week for allegedly orchestrating a complex $1 billion fraud scheme that duped online followers with promises of outsized investment returns.
Fraud Diary - Deloitte China
This is the story of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP ("Deloitte China"), who paid a $20 million penalty to the SEC for asking clients to perform their own audit testing, and presenting the results as its own.
Boost Month-End Efficiency by Going Paperless - Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc.
This Chit Chat session features Jonna Wall, Financial Analyst of Pinnacle Financial Partners, a ~$40 Billion (assets as of 06/30/2022) publicly traded financial institution based in Nashville, TN with locations in many markets throughout the southeast. Join us as we discuss the Bank’s journey to become more efficient during month-end close, at a time when it was also going through a period of tremendous growth.
Fraud Diary - German Nino
This is the story of German Nino, a former investment advisor as UBS, who allegedly Stole $5.8 Million from investors’ discretionary accounts.
Fraud Diary - Justin Costello
This is the story of Justin Costello, who allegedly defrauded victims out of $35 million based on the 'mirage' of being billionaire, Harvard MBA, Iraq veteran.
Fraud Story - Rosa Bonilla
This is the story of Rosa Bonilla, former First Lady of Honduras, who misappropriated $590,000 of public funds and spent it on real estate, credit card payments and her children's school fees.
Taking the Close Process From Good to Great - Machias Savings Bank
This episode features Tara Bartko, SVP Accounting and Finance, and Jody Dennison, VP Accounting of Machias Savings Bank.
With nearly $2.2 billion in assets, 300 employees, and 16 locations stretching across Maine, the team at Machias Savings Bank believes that with every relationship there is a way to keep their customers moving forward, now and in the future. Founded in 1869, and a leader in customer experience and community, Machias makes an impact beyond products and services by donating nearly $1 million to Maine non-profits.
Machias Savings Bank was named the #1 Best Small Bank in Maine in 2020 by Newsweek. It ranked #2 in the Best Places to work for in Maine in 2021. And also in 2021, It was ranked #8 in the Best Bank to Work With in the Nation by American Banker Magazine. Join us as we discuss the Bank’s journey in taking the month-end close process from good to great.
Fraud Diary - City of Cottage Grove MN
This is the story of the City of Cottage Grove, MN, which fell victim to a wire fraud scam to the tune of over $1.2 million in losses. The investigation is still ongoing as of August 2022.
Fraud Diary - Marc Sporn
This is the story of Marc Sporn, who committed healthcare fraud worth $20 million to fund a lavish lifestyle.
A New World Needs a New Way to Close (as Featured on the The Finance Executive Podcast)
A key responsibility for anyone in the finance function is closing the company books on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. And although to a layperson that may seem like a straightforward process, anyone with an accounting or finance background knows it’s anything but.
Filled with multiple stakeholders and dependencies, the financial close can be a complicated process for even a small organization. But that complexity can increase algorithmically with the size of the organization.
In this episode of the Financial Executive Podcast featuring Nancy Wu at SkyStem, Nancy speaks about the increased use of automation in the financial close and how recent events, like the move to remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, may have accelerated an already rapidly changing financial close process.
For more information on SkyStem please visit www.skystem.com.
Fraud Diary - Michael Kail
This is the story of Michael Kail, an ex-Netflix executive convicted of taking $500K+ in bribes and kickbacks from tech companies for approving streaming contracts with Netflix.
Slash Admin Work and Eradicate Paper for Month-End Close -- C&F Bank
This "Chit Chat" session features Matt Guth, VP and Assistant Controller of Citizens and Farmers Bank (C&F Bank), $2 Billion publicly traded financial institution based in Virginia. Join us as we discuss C&F Bank’s journey to build a month-end close process involving less administrative burden and no more paper.
Fraud Story - Paul Henri Marie Harleman
This is the story of Paul Henri Marie Harleman, an accountant who stole more than $1 Million from his clients through his bookkeeper business.
Signs of a Poor Month-End Close Process
What are the top indicators of a month-end close process that is not up to snuff?
Fraud Diary - Marie Fulle and Comerica Bank
This is the story of Marie Fulle, the ex-bank manager of Comerica Bank who embezzled over $1 million from a customer over the course of one year.
Flashing Insight: 20 Years of SOX
2022 marks 20 years since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2022 was established. How do retail investors feel about it and how has compliance / audit functions fared?
Fraud Diary - Peter Armbruster of Roadrunner Transportation
This is the story of Peter Armbruster, the former CFO of Roadrunner Transportation, who executed a complex securities and accounting scheme that resulted in $245 million of shareholder losses.
Fraud Diary - Kevin McInnis of Merida Group
This is the story of Kevin McInnis, former CEO at Merida Group, who orchestrated a $150 million healthcare fraud scheme.
Fraud Diary - Kevin Miller and Co-Conspirators
This is the story of Kevin Miller, Eam Peng Chou, Mean Peach, Chonnathason Has and Thi Ho, who stole $2.4 million from a Maryland-based company over the course of three years.
Fraud Diary - Luckin Coffee
This is the story of Luckin Coffee, the Wall Street darling that was ultimately found to have falsely inflated revenues by $300 million.
Fraud Diary - Maryann Stoffel
This is the story of Maryann Stoffel, a 70-year old woman who misappropriated ~$650,000 from the Vermillion Township in Dakota County, Minnesota.
Fraud Diary - Zachary Horwitz
This is the story of Zachary Horwitz and his production company, who allegedly orchestrated a pyramid scheme that raised $690 million dollars.
Streamlining Month-End Reconciliations Through Automation - Stock Yards Bank & Trust
SkyStem’s Head of Sales and Support, Nancy Wu, and Stock Yards Bank & Trust's Corporate Controller, Derek Slone, explore his team's progression from a manual reconciliation process to one that is automated and modernized.
Fraud Diary - Suraj Samaroo
This is the story of Suraj Samaroo, who defrauded IKEA out of $400,000 by processing unauthorized customer refunds.
Fraud Diary - Interview with John Kurtzweil
John Kurtzweil joins the SkyStem Podcast to discuss his experience working as the Corporate Controller of MiniScribe in the late 1980's around the time a massive fraud was discovered to have been perpetrated at the company.
Fraud Diary - MiniScribe Corp
This is the story of MiniScribe Corp, whose employees perpetrated massive fraud in the mid to late 1980s.
Fraud Diary - Rita Crundwell (Part 2)
This is the story of Rita Crundwell, who stole $53 Million from the City of Dixon, Illinois over the course of 22 years (Part 2 of 2).
AFP & SkyStem - Month-End Close Automation with Linda Harris (Ichor Systems)
The Association for Finance Professionals (AFP) sits down with Nancy Wu at SkyStem and Linda Harris at Ichor Systems to discuss modernizing the month-end close process at Ichor Systems. As featured in AFP Conversations podcast.
Total Accountability Through Month-End Close Automation - CountryMark
Headquartered in Indianapolis, CountryMark is an agricultural cooperative firm in the crude oil and oil refinery business. Nikki Collier, Director of Accounting & Finance for CountryMark, joins us in this webinar to share her experience in automating month-end close and reconciliations to modernize the process and provide much-needed organization and accountability to the mature organization.
Fraud Diary: Rita Crundwell (Part 1)
This is the story of Rita Crundwell, who stole $53 Million from the City of Dixon, Illinois over the course of 22 years.
Fraud Diary: Tangoe & Management
Today's case involves a company called Tangoe, an IT Expense Management Company, that was accused of accounting fraud by the SEC along with four of its high ranking executives: Albert Subbloie, Gary Martino, Donald Farias and Thomas Beach.
Fraud Diary: Sheila Jameson
A Controller's Journey into Month-End Close Automation - Aquarion
SkyStem’s Head of Sales and Support, Nancy Wu, and Aquarion’s Corporate Controller, Deb Kirven, explore the challenges facing today’s finance and accounting function. Deb and Nancy journey through Aquarion’s decision to evaluate and adopt month-end close automation while touching upon topics such as cloud solutions, change leadership and consensus building.
Reduce Risk Through Month-End Close Automation - Lake Health
Established over 100 years ago, Lake Health is a leader in community health care in Northeast Ohio and the largest private employer in Lake County. Join Lisa Mothersbaugh, Director of Accounting at Lake Health, as she shares her team's journey to modernize the close and reconciliation process with the goal of improving overall work quality and reduce financial statement risk.
Winning Back Time Through Month-End Close Automation - AMRG
AM Retail (Part of G-III Apparel Group) operates retail stores for Wilson Leather, G.H. Bass & Co., Calvin Klein Performance, Karl Lagerfeld Paris, and DKNY. Join Charlie Kettering, Finance Director at AM Retail, as he shares his team's vision for modernizing month-end close. Charlie and his team, over the course of one month, turned a manual reconciliation process into one that is electronic, and in the process, successfully saved two weeks of man hours per quarter.
Saving Time Through Modernizing Month-End Close - Kemba Credit Union
Kemba Credit Union was established in 1934 to serve employees of the Kroger Company. Today, it has over $1 Billion in assets and offers a plethora of banking, lending, investing, financial planning and insurance solutions to its members. It aims to provide its members with the best that technology has to offer. Join Janet Oiler, Controller at Kemba Credit Union, as she shares her team's exploration into month-end close and reconciliation automation, and how modernizing this process has impacted the way her team approaches month-end activities.
A Better Month-End Close - 121 Financial
At the end of every month or quarter, credit union finance professionals tackle the close process, or the preparation of the credit union’s financial statements for publication. It requires extensive research and reconciliation on the part of the finance team, and completing these tasks manually can be challenging.
Nancy Wu, head of sales and customer support for SkyStem, says many credit unions experience pain points in their close processes. This is where automation tools can help to streamline the close process, removing inefficiencies and allowing teams to work more effectively together.
For $551 million asset 121 Financial Credit Union in Jacksonville, Florida, implementing automation made the close process easier on the finance team. Chief financial officer Benjamin Munday says this led to smarter ways of working, improved morale, and happier team members.
In this episode of the CUNA News Podcast, sponsored by SkyStem, Wu and Munday share best practices for identifying an automation solution that fits your credit union’s needs, getting employees on board with new tools and processes, and working through potential challenges like the coronavirus pandemic.