Construction Fraud:

Stories from the Field

Baker Tilly refers to Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP,

an independently owned and managed member of Baker Tilly International. © 2010 Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP
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Introductions

Webinar Moderator
Mary Barnett
ACUA President

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Introductions

Monica Modi Dalwadi Tony Ollmann

CPA, CIA, CFE Senior Manager Director
703 923 8559 608 240 2618
monica.dalwadi@bakertilly.com tony.ollmann@bakertilly.com

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Overview

Today’s topics
>Learning objectives
>Types of construction fraud
>Auditing to detect construction fraud
>Activities to mitigate construction fraud
>Fraud stories:
‒ Direct Labor
‒ Billing
‒ Vendor Negotiation

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Why are we here today

1) Understand common fraud schemes associated with

construction projects
2) Learn fraud risks and audit procedures to identify fraud
schemes related to construction contracts
3) Recognize activities to mitigate the risk of fraud related to
construction projects
4) Learn from fraud stories from the field

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Construction project lifecycle

Key Construction Activities

Design and construction team has been selected (Facilities)

Contracts have been executed (Legal)

Construction is complete (Facilities)

Move in day is past and project

records are archived

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Owner’s responsibilities

Where can fraud occur in pre-construction

activities? How can you help prevent fraud at
this stage?
> Contractor due diligence
> Contracting and negotiation
> Contract risk matrix development

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Owner’s responsibilities (cont.)

Where can fraud occur during the

construction phase? How can you help
prevent fraud at this stage?
> Controlling capital expenditures
> Monitoring change orders
> Scheduling thousands of activities for hundreds of people
> Maintaining an ethical and safe work environment

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Owner’s responsibilities (cont.)

Where might you find fraud post

construction?
> Closeout audits
> Shared savings calculations
> Compliance versus controls
> Allowance reconciliation
> Final pay application reconciliation

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Working definitions

Aggressive billing practices

> The charging of premium prices for goods and services required
during the course of construction, while complying with contract
terms and conditions

Abusive billing practices

> The billing for goods and services that are almost in compliance
with the contract and are frequently not in the owner’s best
interest

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Working definitions

Fraud – by definition
> Deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence,
perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest
advantage
> A particular instance of deceit or trickery (e.g., mail fraud,
election fraud)
> A person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur

Fraud – broad legal definition

> There must be a deliberate misrepresentation of the product’s
condition and actual monetary damages must occur

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Types of fraud related
to construction

Category Description Statistics

Billing Schemes Any fraud scheme in which a Median Loss: $128,000
person causes his or her employer Median Duration: 24 Months
to issue an irregular payment for
goods or services
Non-Cash Any scheme in which an employee Median Loss: $90,000
Misappropriations steals or misuses a non-cash asset Median Duration: 15 Months
Corruption Employee’s use of his or her Median Loss: $375,000
influence in business transactions Median Duration: 18 Months
for the purpose of obtaining a
benefit for him or herself or
someone else
Payroll Any scheme in which an employee Median Loss: $72,000
causes an irregular compensation Median Duration: 24 Months
payment
Report to the Nations, Association of Certified
Fraud Examiners, 2010

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Fraud Case Studies

Report to the Nations, Association of Certified

Fraud Examiners, 2010

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Fraud Case Study: Repairs and
maintenance

Facts
> Annual repair budget $30 million
> Repair work is sole sourced to a large
local contractor who is a major donor to
the institution
> Work orders with budgets are issued for
each repair project
> The price for the work is competitive and
consistent with other construction
estimates
> Supporting documents for invoices are
verified and appear to be in good order

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Fraud Case Study: Repairs and
maintenance

Where was the owner defrauded on this work?

> Repairs were made by salvaging materials from the repair site and reusing
them to make the repairs
> Materials and supplies that were purchased for the repair work and billed to
the owner were stockpiled into the contractor’s inventory

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Fraud Case Study: Repairs and
maintenance

How was this detected?

> Baker Tilly worked with Facilities to inspect the completed work and
identified window casings that were nicked and cracked
> Our follow up review of the waste removal invoices uncovered too little
waste had been sent to the landfill
> Our subsequent interviews with construction crews discovered they had
been instructed to salvage and reuse as much material as possible

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Fraud Case Study: Repairs and
maintenance

What was the estimated cost of this scheme?

Over a three year period, the Owner had been defrauded
by over $1,000,000.

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Billing schemes

Methods
> Billing equipment or personnel at rates
that are higher than agreed upon rate
tables
> Miscalculating rate increases
> Pay application or invoice arithmetic
errors
> Billing for costs not associated with the
project

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

Facts
> Trusted contractor with over 20 years
invested in the relationship
> Major contributor to the institution’s
charitable foundation
> Trusted personal friend of the President
and Chairman of the Board
> New Facilities Director coming on board
asks for a construction audit as due
diligence effort

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

Where was the Owner defrauded?

> The lobby and fireplace that had been donated by the contractor for the
building had been billed to the Owner

Additionally, what did the construction audit find?

> Construction contracts were poorly written and very one sided
> The Owner had agreed to pay a two percent warranty fee when industry
practice is there is no charge for warranty work

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

How did these findings change business

practices?
> New construction contract templates were written based on well controlled
contracting practices
> The contractor has been banned from future work at the institution
> Gift and entertainment policies were changed to prevent employees and
officers from accepting high value gifts
> Owner refused to accept the terms of the financial settlement
> Owner shares this story with peers at association meetings

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

Facts
> Owner has an annual construction budget in excess
of $100 million
> Master services agreements have been negotiated
with several contractors to help ensure competitive
pricing and reliable resources
> Internal audit performs a limited construction audit of
the projects on a annual basis
> Audit reports never revealed any significant findings
> Project is on time and on budget; correct arithmetic
on invoices and change orders followed policy and
procedure

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

Where was the Owner defrauded?

> Equipment was billed as higher rates than were agreed to in the master
services agreement
> The billing rates used were newly negotiated with an effective date in the
future from the date of work
> Invoices were billed late to imply the work dates coincided with contract
effective dates
> Invoices were intentionally mislabeled with the wrong contract code linking
the invoice to contracts with higher billing rates

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Fraud Case Study: Billing

How was this detected?

d

An observant project manager noticed that one invoice had different billing
rates for the same piece of equipment, which was also used during the same
time period and at the same location and became curious.

Baker Tilly then worked with the institution to perform a full construction audit.
We tested 100% of the billed transactions from a particular vendor and helped
to identify items for a multi-million dollar settlement.

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Material fraud

Methods
> Material substitution
> Incorrect material measurements
> Failure to credit for unused materials and supplies
> Failure to credit for Owner direct purchases
> Installation of substandard materials

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Fraud Case Study: Materials

Facts
> Owner contracted to build a $12 million parking structure
> Significant excavating and site preparation was required due to site
conditions
> Site preparation budget was over run by 100%
> Poor ground quality required many extra trucks of gravel
> Unusual amounts of rain compounded the site condition problems and
delayed the construction schedule

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Case Study: Material fraud

Where was the Owner defrauded?

> This resulted in a higher price per ton of gravel than the trucking tickets
represented
‒ Gravel is typically sold by the ton
‒ The unusual weather had significantly raised the moisture content in
the gravel increasing the weight of a cubic yard of gravel

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Case Study: Material fraud

How was this discovered?

> Internal audit was performing an interim audit of the project and noticed the
major site preparation budget overrun
> After Internal Audit and Baker Tilly interviewed the project manager the
auditor learned that the project had been affected by the recent rains, which
explained the overrun. This prompted the auditor to ask the project
manager, why does rain cost a project so much money?
> The project manager went on to explain all of the tasks impacted by rain.
> During the course of this discussion they realized that the aggregate they
had been purchasing hadn’t been price adjusted for moisture content.

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Fraud Case Study: Corruption

Facts
> Owner uses competitive bidding to procure contractors
> Bids are submitted sealed and opened under strict observation and
recording procedures
> Bids are closely grouped and prices reflect historical experience
> Project is awarded to low bidder
> The owner has a great experience with the contractor and is happy to give
the contractor a reference

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Fraud Case Study: Corruption

How was the Owner

defrauded?
The winning contractor had been bribing
project managers at two of their closest
competitors to share confidential bid
information enabling the contractor to
prepare and submit the lowest bid.

Let’s consider the ethics of how an Owner

operates.

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Fraud Case Study: Corruption

How was this detected?

> During the annual process of approving contractors for the next year a
project manager noticed one contractor had been awarded an unusually
high number of bids
> This prompted Internal Audit and Facilities, working with Baker Tilly, to
analyze the bid tabulations from each project awarded the last twelve
months
> The analysis found too many close bids, which lead to a deeper
investigation and ultimate discovery of information leaks

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ACUA professional education events

ACUA Annual Conference

September 11-15, 2011
The Tropicana, Las Vegas, NV

Next ACUA Webinar

August 10, 2011
“Why Ethics are Needed When the Law
Governs”

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Additional resources

> www.acua-l@associationlists.com
> www.bakertilly.com/construction-audit-webinar
> http://www.theiia.org/
> https://www.thenaca.org/
> http://www.caacci.org/
> http://rsmeans.reedconstructiondata.com/
> http://www.auditnet.org/

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Questions?

Please feel free to ask questions in the screen

to your right.

We will answer as many questions as time

permits.

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Contact information

Thank you for participating today! Remember CPE certificates will be

mailed to you by ACUA Headquarters in about three weeks.

Monica Modi Dalwadi Tony Ollmann

CPA, CIA, CFE, Senior Manager Director
703 923 8559 608 240 2618
monica.dalwadi@bakertilly.com tony.ollmann@bakertilly.com

acua-info@goamp.com

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Disclosure

Required firm disclosure and Circular 230

Prominent Disclosure
The information provided here is of a general nature and is not intended to
address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. In specific
circumstances, the services of a professional should be sought.
Pursuant to the rules of professional conduct set forth in Circular 230, as
promulgated by the United States Department of the Treasury, nothing
contained in this communication was intended or written to be used by any
taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the
taxpayer by the Internal Revenue Service, and it cannot be used by any
taxpayer for such purpose. No one, without our express prior written
permission, may use or refer to any tax advice in this communication in
promoting, marketing, or recommending a partnership or other entity,
investment plan or arrangement to any other party.

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