Forensic accounting expert to speak at UB School of Management

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Author and forensic accounting expert Mark Nigrini will speak at the University at Buffalo School of Management at 9 a.m. on Oct. 3 in the Center for Tomorrow on UB’s North Campus.

Nigrini’s visit will be sponsored by the Helen and Oscar Sufrin Lectureship in Accounting, which brings distinguished business professionals to the School of Management to speak about accounting issues.

A professor at the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics, Nigrini teaches auditing and forensic accounting. His current research includes the application of forensic analytics to contemporary topics such as the detection of Ponzi schemes, the legal framework of fraud convictions and advanced theoretical work on Benford’s Law, the mathematical theory of leading digits.

Benford’s Law was developed by Frank Benford, a physicist in the 1930s, who discovered that there were predictable patterns to the digits in lists of numbers. His research showed that digits were not expected to be equally used in tabulated data, but that smaller digits are expected to occur more often.

Nigrini is the author of “Forensic Analytics,” which describes tests to detect fraud, errors, estimates and biases in financial data. He is also the author of “Benford’s Law,” the seminal work on applications of that topic.

His work has been featured in national and international media including Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC Radio and NPR, and he has published papers on Benford’s Law in accounting academic journals, scientific journals and pure mathematics journals, as well as professional publications such as Internal Auditor and Journal of Accountancy.

Reservations are required by Sept. 30 for this free lecture and can be made at mgt.buffalo.edu/sufrin. For questions, call Janet Kiefer at 716-645-3290.

Funding for the Sufrin Lectureship is provided through the generous support of Leslie Sufrin, CPA, and Gerald Sufrin, MD, a long-time UB professor, in honor of their late parents.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes and U.S. News and World Report for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.