| Course | ACC 692 Interview Techniques/Legal Aspects of Fraud |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 10 |
| Paper type | graduate final project fraud examination report with legal strategy recommendations |
| Length | About 1,020 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MS Accounting |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for ACC 692 Module 10
Report of Fraud Examination: Highway Department Fuel and Tire Losses
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
ACC 692: Interview Techniques/Legal Aspects of Fraud
Final Project
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.
Report of Fraud Examination: Highway Department Fuel and Tire Losses
Introduction
This report is addressed to the county controller and the county solicitor. It presents the results of the examination of diesel fuel and tire losses at the highway department's main yard and recommends a legal and administrative strategy. It draws on the interview plan, the analysis of legal elements and rights, and the expert testimony preparation completed during the examination. The report states facts and the evidence supporting them; whether any person committed a crime is for the courts to decide.
Predication and Scope
In February 2025, readings from newly installed tank telemetry showed more diesel leaving the department's two tanks than the dispensing log recorded. The controller's office engaged the examiner through the solicitor on March 3, 2025. The scope covered diesel and tire purchases, use and disposal from November 2022, the start of the earliest winter for which complete records exist, through March 2025. Other fuel types, vehicle parts and payroll were outside the scope.
Methods
The examination reconciled fuel deliveries with recorded use and tank readings, and tire purchases with installations, stock cards and scrap tickets. It measured the fuel loss three ways, as described in the expert preparation, and valued tires at used market prices. Electronic data from the pump controller, telemetry and fleet system were exported, hashed and logged under a chain of custody form. Eleven interviews were conducted between March 10 and April 2, 2025, in the order and manner set out in the interview plan, with warnings appropriate to each interviewee. Each was documented in a memorandum prepared the same day, and the key interviews were recorded with consent.
Findings
Finding 1. Between November 2022 and March 2025, about 41,000 gallons of diesel purchased by the county were not recorded as dispensed to county equipment, valued at the county's cost at about $162,000 (Exhibits 3 to 6).
Finding 2. During the same period, 131 overnight dispensing entries, all outside the yard's staffed hours, were made for plow trucks that dispatch records show were not in service that night. The pump controller recorded the fleet supervisor's override code on 118 of these entries (Exhibits 7 and 8).
Finding 3. Of 380 tires recorded as scrap, about 290 had usable tread according to the tire hauler and his photographs. The stock cards recording them as scrap were approved by the fleet supervisor. Their estimated used market value is about $96,000 (Exhibits 9 to 11).
Finding 4. The owner of an excavating company stated in a voluntary, recorded interview that he collected diesel at the yard on eleven nights and bought about 240 tires from the fleet supervisor, paying about $84,300 in cash, and provided a notebook listing the dates. The dates match eleven clusters of night entries in Finding 2 (Exhibits 12 and 13).
Finding 5. The fleet supervisor, in a voluntary interview on April 2, 2025, described the fueling procedure and stated that night fills were made to prepare trucks for storms. When shown Findings 2 and 3, he declined to answer further questions and ended the interview (Exhibit 14).
Finding 6. The department director signed monthly fuel and tire reports without reviewing the underlying records, and no reconciliation of fuel deliveries to use was performed (Exhibit 15).
Summary of loss
| Item | Quantity | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel not accounted for | 41,000 gallons | $162,000 |
| Usable tires recorded as scrap | 290 | $96,000 |
| Total | $258,000 |
Limits of the Examination
Telemetry data exist only for 2025, so earlier fuel losses depend on reconciliation and engine-hour estimates, which agree within 6 percent. The examination could not confirm where all of the diesel went; the contractor accounts for about 33,000 gallons. Tire values are estimates based on dealer price lists. The supervisor's account of the night fills was not completed. The department's paper records before November 2022 were incomplete, and any losses in earlier winters, if they occurred, could not be measured. Interviews with two drivers who left the department in 2023 were not obtained because they did not respond to written requests. None of these limits affects the findings above, but they mean the loss stated here is a floor rather than a ceiling.
Legal Options Considered
The analysis of legal elements found that the evidence supports most elements of state theft and public records tampering offenses and of receiving stolen property, and that the federal funds the county draws for road work would also open a federal charge (Fischer v. United States, 2000). The district attorney has filed state charges. Because the supervisor's interview was voluntary, his statements remain usable; a compelled administrative interview should not be held while the criminal case is pending.
Recommended Strategy
First, continue to support the prosecution, preserving all evidence and making the examiner available to testify. Second, file the proof of loss under the county's $250,000 employee dishonesty bond before the policy's notice deadline of 120 days from discovery, which falls on June 30, 2025. Third, sue both men in county court to recover the $8,000 the bond will not cover, together with the cost of the examination, and seek restitution at sentencing. Fourth, proceed with administrative discipline of the supervisor after consulting the district attorney on timing. Fifth, adopt five controls: monthly reconciliation of deliveries to use, override codes unique to each person and reviewed weekly, a second signature on tire scrap records, telemetry alerts for after-hours dispensing and quarterly review by the controller's internal auditor. Kranacher and Riley (2019) stress that recommendations should address the conditions that allowed the loss, and the most recent global study of occupational fraud reports that tips and proactive data monitoring detect a large share of cases (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 2024), which supports both the telemetry alerts and a confidential reporting line for yard staff.
Conclusion
The examination quantified a loss of about $258,000, traced most of the diesel and many of the tires to sales by night, and documented the records used to conceal them. The recommended strategy pursues every available route to recovery while protecting the criminal case, and the control changes address the absence of reconciliation and review that allowed the losses to continue for three winters.
References
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. (2024). Occupational fraud 2024: A report to the nations. Author.
Fischer v. United States, 529 U.S. 667 (2000).
Kranacher, M.-J., & Riley, R. A. (2019). Forensic accounting and fraud examination (2nd ed.). Wiley.
What the ACC 692 Module 10 instructions ask for
The ACC 692 Final Project asks for a complete fraud examination report on your case, combined with recommendations on legal strategy. Guidelines generally require a description of the predication and scope, the methods used, findings supported by documents and interviews, a quantification of the loss, a summary of the legal issues and recommendations for criminal, civil and administrative action. Reports must follow professional conventions: they state facts, attribute every finding to evidence and leave conclusions about guilt to the courts. A good report can be read by a prosecutor, an insurer and a defense lawyer and give each the same account. Most versions also expect recommendations for preventing a recurrence. Plan on a substantial, well-organized report with exhibits referenced by number.
How this ACC 692 Module 10 final project example is built
The report opens with predication, the telemetry discrepancy reported in early 2025, and a scope covering November 2022 to March 2025. It describes the methods: document reconciliation, three independent loss measures, data preservation and eleven interviews. Findings are numbered: 41,000 gallons of diesel and 380 tires not accounted for, worth about $258,000; 131 night fills for trucks not dispatched, 118 using the supervisor's code; usable tires recorded as scrap; and the contractor's statement that he paid about $84,300 in cash. The legal strategy recommends supporting the prosecution, filing the bond claim before its deadline, suing both men for the balance and adopting five control changes, starting with a monthly reconciliation of fuel delivered to fuel used.
Where the ACC 692 Module 10 rubric puts the points
Final Project scoring typically considers the completeness of the report, accuracy and support of findings, quantification, treatment of interview evidence, legal analysis, recommendations and professional presentation. The best reports follow a clear structure, cite an exhibit for every finding, separate facts from conclusions, present the loss with its method, summarize interviews accurately and connect legal recommendations to the elements and rights analyzed earlier. They also give the client practical next steps with deadlines, assign each step to an office and explain which earlier finding it responds to. Reports lose credit for expressing opinions on guilt, for findings without evidence, for omitting the limits of the examination and for strategy that ignores civil recovery or controls.
ACC 692 Module 10 help: the mistakes that cost points
The most common weakness in final reports is tone: writing as an advocate rather than an examiner. Replace words such as stole or embezzled with what the evidence shows, for example that fuel recorded as used by a truck was not used by it. Another is structure; readers should be able to find the scope, findings and recommendations quickly, so use numbered findings and refer to exhibits. Students sometimes forget deadlines that matter to the client, such as notice periods under a fidelity bond. Finally, make sure the legal strategy reflects the earlier milestones, including the choice of a voluntary interview and the evidence rules, so the report reads as the end of one examination rather than a fresh start.
Get ACC 692 Module 10 written to your instructions
Send the ACC 692 Final Project guidelines and your milestones. The report will be written in examination form, with scope, methods, findings, interview evidence and a legal strategy, and no opinions on guilt. Around two days; your first final project is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
More ACC 692 papers and related MS Accounting samples
- ACC 692 Module 1 Discussion: What a Fraud Interview Is For
- ACC 692 Module 2 Interview Planning Assignment: Who to Talk To, and in What Order
- ACC 692 Module 3 Milestone One: The Interview Plan for the Highway Department
- ACC 692 Module 4 Discussion: Seeking an Admission Without Forcing One
- ACC 692 Module 5 Legal Elements Assignment: Walking the Facts Through the Statutes
- ACC 692 Module 6 Milestone Two: Rights, Warnings and Evidence That Will Hold
- ACC 692 Module 7 Discussion: What a Nervous Witness Does and Does Not Reveal
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ACC 692 Module 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free ACC 692 Module 10 Final Project sample?
The complete ACC 692 Final Project is here: a fraud examination report and legal strategy for fuel and tire losses at a county highway department.
What should a fraud examination report contain?
Predication and scope, methods, findings tied to evidence, the quantified loss, a summary of interviews, the limits of the work and recommendations, written without opinions on guilt.
Why should a fraud examiner not state that someone is guilty?
Guilt is a legal conclusion for a court or jury; an examiner who states it appears biased and may weaken the report's credibility and the case.
How can an employer recover losses from employee fraud?
Through fidelity bond or crime insurance claims, restitution ordered in a criminal case and civil suits against the employee and anyone who knowingly received the property.
What is predication in a fraud examination?
The facts that would lead a reasonable professional to believe fraud has occurred, which justify starting the examination and define its initial scope.