Visual Facilitation Techniques Flashcards

A CFE uses a 'swimlane' diagram when documenting a procurement fraud scheme. What does each lane in the diagram represent?

Answer: A distinct department or role responsible for each process step

Swimlane diagrams assign each lane to a specific department, role, or entity, clearly showing which party is responsible at each step and where cross-departmental handoffs — and control gaps — occur.

When preparing a visual exhibit of a suspect's financial statement, a forensic examiner uses a 'waterfall chart' to show how net worth changed over time. What makes this chart type particularly useful for fraud cases?

Answer: It visually decomposes a cumulative change into individual contributing factors

A waterfall chart breaks down a total change into its component increases and decreases, making it easy to identify specific transactions that contributed to unexplained wealth accumulation.

In visual facilitation workshops for fraud risk assessment, a 'parking lot' is used to:

Answer: Capture important but off-topic ideas so they are not lost but do not derail the current discussion

A 'parking lot' is a designated space (on a whiteboard or flip chart) to temporarily hold relevant ideas that fall outside the current discussion scope, ensuring they are addressed later without disrupting the session flow.

Which type of visual representation is MOST appropriate for illustrating the relationship between the frequency of small fraudulent transactions and their cumulative financial impact?

Answer: Pareto chart

A Pareto chart combines a bar chart (frequency) with a cumulative line chart (impact), making it ideal for showing that a small number of transaction types account for the majority of fraud losses.

A forensic examiner maps the physical office layout to show proximity between the suspect's workstation and document storage. This spatial visualization technique primarily supports which investigative goal?

Answer: Establishing that the suspect had physical opportunity and access to commit the fraud

Spatial diagrams demonstrating physical proximity establish that a suspect had the access and opportunity necessary to commit the alleged fraud, a key element of the fraud triangle's opportunity component.

When using visual facilitation to debrief a complex investigation with the engagement team, which technique helps ensure all team members share the same mental model of the fraud scheme?

Answer: Collaborative mapping where team members co-construct the scheme diagram together

Collaborative mapping, where team members physically build the diagram together, ensures shared understanding and often surfaces discrepancies or gaps in the team's collective knowledge of the scheme.

A CFE is analyzing a large dataset of journal entries and wants to visualize unusual patterns. Which technique would BEST reveal clusters of entries made outside normal business hours?

Answer: Heat map plotting entry frequency by day of week and hour of day

A heat map using day-of-week and hour-of-day axes visually highlights anomalous clusters of activity — such as late-night or weekend journal entries — that are common indicators of fraud.