ost companies know what ethical behavior is, but many still aren’t good at practicing what’s preached in corporate mission statements and HR policies. Headlines filled with insider trading, bribery, sexual harassment, and customer deception remind us how difficult ethical behavior is to enforce.
MindBridge uses machine learning models to hunt for inconsistent and suspicious transactions that could point to unethical behavior. Each model is trained to look for specific red flags. These can include scenarios such as unusually large transactions, capital flows between unusual participants, or manual system entries close to the end of the year. It highlights the red flags in a report and assigns a risk score, explaining where and why human auditors might want to look further.
“Our AI engine does the same,” says Kale. “It finds out about that merchant, looks at the social reviews they might have, and finds out whether there are expenditures that the company would not likely be associated with.” His AI algorithm found a hotspot of inappropriate expense claims in one specific office across the whole country. Investigating that office, managers found a very close-knit team that would always socialize outside work. It was more like a family, he recalls.