The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has announced that former Andersen partner Toby J. F. Bishop will become its new president and chief executive officer, replacing Dr. Gil Geis, professor emeritus from the University of California, Irvine, who has served as ACFE president since 1992.

Mr. Bishop was partner-in-charge of Fraud Research and Development for Andersen. In that position, he had been studying a new auditing approach for fraud designed to greatly exceed current and proposed auditing standards. "It is unfortunate that Toby's innovative approach was developed too late to prevent the Enron disaster," said ACFE founder and Chairman Joseph T. Wells. "But Andersen's collapse has enabled us to hire an outstanding individual."

Both Mr. Bishop and Mr. Wells share an interest in fraud education, which is an important part of ACFE's mission. Mr. Bishop conducted fraud examination seminars for over 200 professors to help enhance anti-fraud education for students. He is also an active supporter of the Association's Higher Education Program to establish fraud prevention and detection training in every major university in the U.S.

"Ours is a global vision," said Bishop. "26,000 members in more than 100 countries play a vital role in fighting fraud, which costs businesses hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Organizations need more Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) to better protect them from fraud, and the Association will continue to ensure that CFEs are the best-trained fraud specialists in the world."

As part of that vision, ACFE offers on-site customized training for organizations with 20 or more people to train. For more information including a listing of courses, visit ACFE's Web site.

-Rosemary Schlank