# Fraud Auditing and Awareness Certificate Program

80 CPE live online program that supports Government Auditing Standards compliance

Canonical URL: <https://www.graduateschool.edu/certificates/certificate-of-accomplishment-in-fraud-auditing-and-awareness>

## Overview

Auditors, evaluators, special agents, and investigators have a responsibility to be aware of the risks, vulnerabilities, and indicators of fraud in the administration of government programs, resources, grants, and contracts. Spending programs such as the CARES Act, Paycheck Protection Program, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) have distributed billions in funds that flowed quickly through the federal government to state and local governments, NGOs, individuals, and contractors with limited control and monitoring.

Along with defense, healthcare, and entitlement programs, government spending creates significant opportunities for waste, fraud, and abuse. Those charged with following the money, assessing the risks and indicators of fraud will need the specialized tools and knowledge of what, where, and how to look for possible fraud.

## What you'll learn

- Explore key fraud topics through courses like detection and prevention of fraud, contract and procurement fraud, and infrastructure fraud.
- Use data analytics and red-flag recognition to support investigations.
- Strengthen investigative report writing and forensic communication skills.

## Curriculum
1. **Counterintelligence for Information Security Assessment and Protection Course**
2. **Detection and Prevention of Fraud Course**
3. **Red Flags of Infrastructure Fraud Course**
4. **Contract and Procurement Fraud Course**
5. **Making Your Case to Prosecute Fraud Course**
6. **Data Analytics for Fraud Detection Course**
7. **AI for Federal Payments and Improper Payment Prevention Course**

## Instructors

### Steve Pesklo — Instructor

Steve is an energetic trainer who focuses on applying technical concepts to everyday work practices. He is the founder and president of SoftLake Solutions, a company that specializes in providing data and AI applications to identify fraud for Internal Audit, Criminal Investigations, Forensic Accounting, Privacy, and Compliance.

Steve brings a large amount of experience across multiple industries and government agencies. He is an expert in implementing large data analysis projects across the world, including Inland Revenue in the UK and Argentina, New Zealand, Africa and across Europe. Previously, he was the manager of Data Architecture and Data Services for a large mortgage company. He is a frequent speaker on data analytics and project management topics and speaks fluent German. He has been teaching at the Graduate School for over 10 years.

Steve has an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and a B.S. in Computer Science from California Lutheran University and the Universität Salzburg in Austria. He is certified as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $4999