During the course of a fraud examination. While, an employee of the ABC Corp.. approaches Blue, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and tells Blue that she wishes to furnish information in confidence.

During the course of a fraud examination. While, an employee of the ABC Corp.. approaches Blue, a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and tells Blue that she wishes to furnish information in confidence.

Blue also is employed by the ABC Corp. Blue should:
A . Tell White that she will try to keep the information as confidential as possible
B. Agree that the information will be held in confidence, even though Blue knows it will not be
C. Take White’s request straight to ABC Corp.’s management
D. Not agree to the request for confidentiality

View Answer

Answer: A

In such situations, it is important to handle the situation with discretion, given that the person may be a whistleblower who is exposing wrongdoing within the organization. Therefore, the CFE should aim to keep the information as confidential as possible, to protect the whistleblower from potential retaliation and to maintain the integrity of any future investigation.

However, total confidentiality may not always be possible, as the CFE may need to disclose the information to others as part of an investigation, or may be required to do so by law. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to promise absolute confidentiality (option B), as this might not be possible to maintain.