Two principal questions serve to illustrate the financial issues that may confront carriers in handling a first-party claim. First, so-called time element losses such as business interruption, loss of use, and additional living expense claims highlight the importance of understanding the insured’s on-going operations for purposes of evaluating the value of a loss.

Second, a discussion of questionable or even fraudulent claims illustrates how a complete understanding of the insured’s finances can identify red flags and, potentially, proof that the insured has overstated their claim or had a motive to commit arson or stage the theft of goods, services, and materials related to their business. We begin, therefore, with a discussion of those two issues as they arise under common first-party claim situations. Read more. Read More

Over the years, I have been invited to speak to various groups, and in a variety of venues, on the topic of employee theft—or, as the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) likes to call it, Occupational Fraud. In June, I had the opportunity to speak again on this subject, this time in London, U.K.

For my visit to the United Kingdom, I made use of this international data which shows a significant amount of consistency with results from the U.S., and a few surprises. Read more. Read More