USG Participates in International Fraud Awareness Week

USG Participates in International Fraud Awareness Week

 

Rome – Nov. 12, 2014 

 

The University System of Georgia (USG) is an active participant in the International Fraud Awareness Week, Nov. 16-22. In support of this effort, Georgia Highlands College will be hosting activities to bring awareness to fraud and further promote an ethical culture on our campus.

 

Activities during this week will help bring awareness to fraud prevention and will reinforce the USG’s culture of recognizing the hard work of all employees, and promoting shared values of integrity, excellence, accountability and responsibility.

 

Brenda Haverkos, GHC
director of Internal Audit, performs financial, operation and compliance audits, as well as investigations within the college to ensure proper practices are continually carried out.

 

She said, “We would like to promote an ethical culture throughout the entire USG. As part of this initiative, each campus will take part in activities to promote an ethical culture. While we want to bring awareness to the risks and consequences of fraud, we also want to focus on the positive aspects of maintaining an ethical culture.”

 

From an accounting and financial perspective, GHC has various internal controls in place to ensure the integrity of cash handling, check writing, payroll and financial information. Examples of these internal controls include segregation of duties, physical security of assets, multiple levels of review, as well as various other procedural checks.  

 

“GHC encourages employees to act in an ethical manner and sets the tone at the top.  We also provide access to a confidential ethics and compliance hotline, which is widely publicized on GHC's website,” Haverkos said.   

 

The fraud prevention hotline, which allows anonymous reporting of inappropriate or illegal behavior, became available to USG members in January of 2008.

 

Haverkos said, “The hotline is a great resource for faculty, staff or students to report potential issues or allegations of wrongdoing.”

 

Our theme for this week is “The SPIRT of USG.” The activities planned will emphasize:

 

Stewardship

Prevention

Integrity

Responsibility

Inspiration, and

Trust

                                                           

The activities planned for this week are as follows:

 

Tuesday, Nov. 18 - Presentation on Cartersville campus at 2p.m. in Room 160

Jed Gillespie - The Basics of Internal Control

Elizabeth Dose - The Psychology of Fraud

Greg Smith - What is Ethical Culture?

 

Tuesday, Nov. 18 - Q&A with the Internal Auditor Brenda Haverkos on the Paulding campus at 10 a.m. in Room 306

 

Wednesday, Nov. 19 - Presentation on the Floyd campus at 3:30 p.m. in Library Room 135

Greg Smith - What is Ethical Culture?

 

Activities at the Marietta and Douglasville campuses will take place at a later date.

 

For more information regarding the SPIRIT of USG activities, visit the GHC website at the following link: www.highlands.edu