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Ralph Summerford Receives Highest Honor From Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

"There is absolutely nothing I have ever achieved in my life that means more to me than receiving this award," said Summerford. "I am honored and humbled to be included in a list of my profession's most talented and effective experts. My partners and colleagues at FSS should also be recognized for their contributions to my success."

Summerford accepted the award at the 21st Annual Fraud Conference held in Washington, D.C., which was attended by more than 2,000 anti-fraud professionals. To view videos of Summerford accepting the award and addressing the audience, visit http://bit.ly/FSScressy. To learn more about the Cressey Award and ACFE, visit www.acfe.com.

James D. Ratley, President of the ACFE said, "In addition to receiving our highest award, Summerford returns as a speaker at our annual conference where he is consistently rated as one of our top speakers. We are proud to have him on our faculty to train accountants and fraud examiners from around the world on fraud detection and prevention."

In addition to his work with ACFE, Summerford was the keynote speaker at the AICPA National Advanced Accounting and Auditing Technical Symposium in Orlando, Fla. on July 16th. His presentation, "Pathways to Deception and Diversion," addressed issues relating to the Birmingham-based HealthSouth fraud case, one of the largest instances of corporate fraud on record. Due to the unprecedented number of accounting scandals, Summerford coined the phrase "golden decade of fraud" to label the first decade of the 21st century. HealthSouth Corporation, he declares, is one of the champions of the decade with over $3 billion in faked earnings, and over 15 people participating in a scheme, which spanned seventeen years. The first executive ever sentenced under Sarbanes Oxley and the architect of fraud, former CFO/CEO Bill Owens, shared the AICPA platform with Summerford to tell how he did it. Owens also shared how he not only duped the auditors but also how he directed employees to create fake entries...and almost got away with it.

For more information about Ralph Summerford, visit www.forensicstrategic.com.

SOURCE Forensic/Strategic Solutions