​There’s nothing better than starting a new semester by organizing an event with fascinating professionals and students eager to meet them. On September 20th, 2016 the Zicklin Forensic Accounting Association did just that by hosting a successful affair with guest speakers from EY Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services.

The group of guest speakers consisted of members from the New York Office: Julia DiMarco, Dheeraj Thimmaiah, Scott Mulford, Niall Murphy and Nan Xu–most of whom are also Baruch College alumni who were happy to visit and share stories of how they launched their careers with FIDS. Niall learned about this career path from a similar event when he attended Baruch, and the rest of the group either started as the interns or transferred from another EY department. Just like every great team, all the professionals agreed on how exciting their jobs are, how they love the learning experiences that came with each client, and praised EY for giving them the opportunity to challenge themselves and grow.

From a short introduction on each member, attendees were able to learn about each of the speakers’ interests and see their more casual and humorous sides. This created a sense of familiarity and openness most noticeably seen and felt around the room when it came to participating in discussions and asking questions. The atmosphere was also there during the second part of the presentation when the professionals walked students through the steps of conducting a fraud investigation.

Bringing an example of a past engagement, Julia, along with the others, presented the sequence of stages that auditors must go through in order to uncover fraud in a client’s company. Students tested their investigative skills by uncovering red flags in documents involved in a sample case. Those who were there also learned from Dheeraj, who was very passionate about his work in a forensic technology team. He went into detail about the growing importance of data analytics and recovering deleted data from computers.  

The event was an incredibly awesome and engaging learning opportunity for students. They were encouraged to apply for EY staff positions, internships, and the EY Emerging Leaders Program at the end of the presentation. As attendants of the even, they were also presented with the opportunity to network with the professionals. Perhaps one day, some of them would be standing on that same stage giving a speech on how they became inspired by this event.

By Justyna Maj, edited by Serena Law, Dara Chen, Maisie Gao

​On September 1st, 2016, ZFAA held its Fall 2016 General Interest Meeting.  We were able to introduce ZFAA and the world of forensic accounting to over 30 undergraduate and graduate students.  To kick off the meeting, we played an icebreaker game that involved teamwork and investigation, fundamental skills for forensic accountants.  Then, officers from ZFAA spoke about forensic accounting as a field, potential career opportunities in forensic accounting, upcoming ZFAA events, and open board positions as well as volunteer opportunities with ZFAA.  After introductions to committees with open positions, we broke out into a short networking session where students were able to meet new friends and learn more about the committees they were interested in joining.  

​By Dara Chen