These are the five must-have skills for today's successful fraud examiners:

1. Understand the Business: Major responsibilities for fraud examiners today include understanding the business side of information technology. They need to work with software and actually write business rules and processes that help in looking for potential fraud types.
2. Leverage Technology: Examiners need to understand how to follow a data trail, use case tools, review digital evidence, and conduct forensic analysis. The main challenge for fraud examiners is getting access to relevant information quickly and keeping up with crime itself.
3. Have a Versatile Work Experience: Lavinder finds her clients in government and private sector looking for individuals that have combated a broad range of fraud cases. "They look for in-depth true investigative experience and not simply the oversight of this function," Lavinder says. "They want people who are hands-on and have worked in different settings and are exposed to handling a range of vulnerabilities and fraud scenarios."
4. Understand Where the Information Resides: Successful fraud examiners need to possess a strong corporate background and understand the inner workings of a company and the infrastructure of an organization. Because when examiners are looking for evidence, they should know where information resides quickly. "Is it on a server, BlackBerry, or laptop?
5. Possess International Capabilities: Lavinder finds her clients operating internationally more extensively now, and therefore she seeks examiners with international capabilities and work experience—especially in developing countries. Individuals who have an understanding of different privacy laws, security standards and frameworks, in addition to speaking different languages, are a huge plus in the hiring industry.

From: 5 Must-Have Skills for Fraud Examiners by Upasana Gupta, Contributing Editor for GovInfo Security