FOCUS on self-study CPE


The case of the gambling executive director


By Leah Wietholter, CPA, CFE


Leah Wietholter, CPA, CFE, is the CEO and Founder of Workman Forensics in Tulsa. While working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Leah discovered an interest and talent for forensic accounting. After leaving the FBI, she served as a senior certified fraud examiner in a Tulsa public accounting firm before leaving to open Workman Forensics in 2010.


With more than 15 years of experience and more than 150 cases worked, Leah has honed her industry expertise to create the Data Sleuth® Process—a scalable, data-first approach to forensic accounting engagements and fraud investigations.


D


uring the week following April 15, 2010, when we were given a bonus vacation day to celebrate the end of


a busy tax season, I began investigating a $3.5 million embezzlement by a loan officer at a local bank. As that case ended, preparation for the fall tax deadline began. Tis was the first time in my career that I experienced a panic attack, although I did not know this was happening at this time. What I did know was I could not continue to prepare tax returns and work on forensic accounting engagements at the same time. After giving my manager ample notice, I started the job search process. I still remember the days following giving my notice as one of the lowest points of my life. Having left my dream job at age 21 felt as though my career life was all downhill, and I did not want to return to the FBI. Working with a headhunter, I explored several controller positions, but although the accounting job openings were a great step in an accountant’s career, I felt lost. I did not want to be a great accountant; I wanted to be an investigator. One day, the headhunter suggested that I start my own business as a fraud examiner. Tis was the first option that did not feel terrible. I called my mentor from the FBI and my mom to see what they thought about the option. My mentor was surprised but encouraging, and Mom said, “If it doesn’t work, what’s the worst that will happen?” I responded, “I go get a job as a controller.” A few weeks later, Workman Forensics officially opened – from my laptop on my dining room table. My experience to this point was laser focused on tax strategy, forensic accounting engagements, and fraud investigations. I had never considered opening my own business, so I was facing an enormous learning curve


18 CPAFOCUS May/June 2022


– especially because I had no clients or even contacts in town. Starting in the fall of 2010, I worked odd jobs while I forced myself to meet with attorneys, bankers, and really anyone who would talk to me. Tree months passed when the phone rang. On the other end was an attorney I had met a few months before. A local not-for-profit organization believed their executive director had stolen $1 million. He wanted to know if I wanted to work on it and if I would go meet with the interim executive director. I tried to sound as if I received these calls every day and made an appointment that was responsive but not too eager. Te interim executive director, Adam, was


worked up to say the least and openly anxious of my arrival. Assuring him that I was just an accountant and not law enforcement, he began to tell me about his discovery. Before becoming the interim executive director, Adam had been the assistant executive director. Before the discovery, the former executive director, Ivan, was preparing for retirement and was training Adam to take his position. Te organization did not use any kind of accounting software, or even Microsoft Excel, but still used green- bar ledger paper and a checkbook. Complaints around the organization were that Ivan was never there and that things were starting to fall apart. Ivan began teaching Adam about the financial preparations for board meetings when Adam noticed payments to a financial institution. Shortly after the training, Ivan would bring Adam credit card statements and represent to Adam that these statements were Ivan’s personal credit cards. He would ask Adam to shred them. Recognizing that a couple of the statements were from the financial institution listed in the check register, Adam did not follow Ivan’s orders and kept copies of


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