This text is part of the special Accounting Profession section
Accountants have obtained increased resources to support victims of abuse, particularly seniors.
What exactly is material and financial abuse? According to the Center for Research and Expertise in Social Gerontology (CREGES) of the Integrated University Health and Social Services Center of West-Central Montreal, it is defined as obtaining or the fraudulent, illegal, unauthorized or dishonest use of a person’s property or documents through violence, such as pressure to modify a will or, on the contrary, negligence, such as failure to manage property. Many clues can alert accountants: unusual banking transactions, disappearance of valuable objects, lack of money for current expenses, financial or legal misinformation, etc. For Sarita Israel, coordinator in the field of elder abuse at CREGES, “maltreaters” can, for example, be a family member, an employee, a caregiver, who evolves in “the specific framework of a relationship where there can be trust.
Geneviève Mottard, chartered professional accountant (CPA) and president and CEO of the Ordre des CPA du Québec, notes that she and her colleagues are in a privileged position to detect signs of material and financial mistreatment. , this “increasingly prevalent societal issue”.
“When you are a CPA, you have access to the financial and legal documents of our clients who may be vulnerable, including the elderly,” she explains. And continued: “for us, whose mandate is to protect the public, it’s hard to find something more important. Our CPAs are truly on the ground to prevent a situation from escalating. »
Detecting situations of abuse
To do this, free training was jointly developed by the Order of CPAs of Quebec and CREGES as part of the Government Action Plan to counter mistreatment of seniors 2022-2027. This now provides that in the event of a suspected situation of mistreatment, CPAs can override professional secrecy and report it. “CPAs can today play a leading role in identifying this mistreatment,” underlines Geneviève Mottard. A CPA who suspects material or financial abuse in a client can therefore contact the Senior Adult Abuse Helpline, an anonymous, confidential and free line which will redirect them to the appropriate resources.
Very popular, this training has already been followed by more than 6,000 CPAs who have been made aware of these issues. “We teach our members to detect potential situations of mistreatment, we enlighten them about their obligations and we give them the tools to support their customers,” continues Geneviève Mottard. For her part, Sarita Israel is delighted with such training. “Accountants are common sense allies, because they know their clients well and can identify risk factors, such as the beginnings of cognitive loss. It doesn’t always mean that a person is going to be mistreated, but they can monitor if something happens,” she says.
Sarita Israel finally draws attention to the collateral damage for elders who are victims of material and financial abuse. “Sometimes finances are the least important thing, because there can be an impact on the person’s physical and mental health,” she concludes.
The main victims of financial fraud are young people
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