Laura East
I'm a Certified Fraud Examiner working as a sole practitioner, specializing in investigation and litigation consulting. I've been in this field for over 40 years, starting as a CPA in 1985. What really drew me into fraud examination was a specific case early on - I was doing reorganization work for a client, and an instance of fraud came up. Once I had to put that case together, I realized this was what I wanted to do. Fraud work is different from regular accounting because you're not just crunching numbers or doing tax returns - you're following a specific allegation of theft or corruption, and you use a lot of different skills. You gather information from books and records, then interview people to get third-party verification. That's the part I really like - just putting the case together. I get hired by attorneys or through referrals for cases involving employee theft, hidden assets in divorces, political corruption, and elder abuse. Every case is totally different - some last 2 months, others 2 years. I work completely on my own, though I'll contract with a private investigator if I need records research done. During my career, I also worked for the FBI in New Orleans, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor in Baton Rouge as an investigative auditor, and the City of New Orleans Office of Inspector General for a year, all while developing my fraud practice. In 2019, I retired as a CPA and CFF but continued as a CFE because I love working one-on-one with my clients. What I enjoy most is being able to market, network, and stay connected to other professionals, which allows me to find my own work and maintain my independence as a sole practitioner.
• Certified Fraud Examiner
• Retired Certified Public Accountant
• Retired Certified Financial Forensic
• Bachelor of Business Administration from Loyola
• New Orleans
• Occupational Expert for O-Net
• US Department of Labor
• CFE Community Ambassador
• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
• Republican Women
• Habitat for Humanity
• Various Churches and Religious Organizations
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to persistence, forbearance, and fortitude. You have to really want to do this work. I'm in an industry where it's feast or famine - there's a lot of fraud out there, but somebody may not want to pursue it because it's very costly and time-intensive. So you have to really want to be able to do that. You've got to network and meet all the people, all the attorneys and such. Doing it as a sole practitioner, it's a lot. You've got to really want to do it to hang in there and do it.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Do what you love and the work will come
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You really have to be able to work under stressful situations, and you have to really want to help people. You have to care - it's more than just crunching the numbers. You've got to care about the fact that somebody stole from someone, and they need help putting this together. It's very dramatic work. You have to have a lot of people skills. There are a lot of great accountants out there who are great auditors and great at tax returns, but they don't want to hear people's personal problems. That's one of the reasons they got into that line of work - they just want to crunch tax returns and make returns, that's it. But in fraud examination, you're as much of a counselor as an investigator. If some wife calls me up and says she's divorcing her husband and thinks he's been stealing from her, it's very, very emotionally upsetting. So you have to be able to deal with that.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field right now is networking. It's not like being a CPA who does tax returns - everybody's got to have a tax return done, so that's easy. But you have to establish relationships with attorneys so they're going to refer work to you, and sometimes they don't want to pay. Sometimes, even if they find out fraud has happened, they don't want to spend the money. So you've just got to network, and you've got to get the right cases, and you've got to be able to build up enough of a base, because it's a one-time thing, not a recurring service. On the opportunity side, fraud is everywhere. Just go read the Certified Fraud Examiners materials or look up fraud cases in the greater New Orleans area. I keep up with all the people being investigated - people in political corruption, politicians, people in regular litigation - and it's mind-boggling how much fraud there is out there. One area I'm trying to expand into is elder abuse, because you have children taking their mama's money and stealing in litigation and family law. I don't like to see anybody being taken advantage of, especially the elderly when they don't know what's going on. There's a lot of that out there, especially with divorce and any kind of family litigation.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are giving my clients the best personal service that I can and being available. I also value being able to work with people in very stressful situations. I'm as much of a counselor as an investigator in this work. When someone calls me in an emotionally upsetting situation - like a wife divorcing her husband who she thinks has been stealing from her - I have to be able to deal with that emotional component while also doing the investigative work.
Locations
P. O. Box 857, Mandeville, LA