Grant Thornton and ACFE Release Anti-Fraud Blueprint [US]

Grant Thornton and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners released their Anti-Fraud Blueprint on 12 February 2026. The document gives CFOs and fraud examiners a structured path to build fraud risk management (FRM) programs, from governance to monitoring.

The blueprint follows the 2023 Fraud Risk Management Guide, Second Edition published by ACFE and COSO. It includes an Enterprise Anti-Fraud Maturity Assessment Model that lets organisations self-assess where they sit between ad hoc and optimised FRM stages.

"Organizations today are facing increasingly complex and fast-moving fraud risks," said Priya Sarjoo, Grant Thornton's national managing partner of cyber and risk advisory. The blueprint helps move from awareness to action with clear checkpoints on governance, accountability, and capability maturity.

Organisations without proper FRM face financial loss, operational disruption, regulatory penalties, and reputational damage. ACFE notes businesses lose roughly 5% of revenue annually to fraud on average. That loss cascades through stakeholder confidence and employee morale.

The guidance addresses AI's dual role in fraud. Machine learning models can flag unusual patterns in real time, improving detection speed. But the same technology introduces new attack vectors. "The same technologies that introduce new risks can also be leveraged to strengthen controls," said Zach Snickles, risk advisory partner at Grant Thornton.

Each section in the blueprint includes points of focus, key questions, and checklists aligned with the 2023 guide's five principles: governance, risk assessment, control activities, investigation and corrective action, and monitoring. This is the second collaboration between Grant Thornton and ACFE, following their 2020 Anti-Fraud Playbook.

For practitioners considering the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential, ACFE membership and the four-part exam remain the standard route. The certification requires documented fraud-related experience and ongoing CPE. Pass rates vary, but the exam covers financial transactions, fraud schemes, investigation, and law.

The blueprint is available through Grant Thornton and ACFE channels. No cost was disclosed.