As an emerging Somali business leader here in Minnesota, I’ve been extremely frustrated with the narratives around fraud in Medicaid programs blaming Governor Walz and the Somali community. People may think our state was sleep at the wheel, but I've always felt that the media here was a bit too obsessed with highlighting Fraud. I've also took notice of many regulatory changes that have occurred since 2023. Fraud is a topic that has been a dark cloud over my head since I moved to Minnesota in July 2023, a time when Feeding Our Future was hot on the news cycle. As a Somali CPA, it was something I couldn't avoid, and it brought a lot of shame. This same fraud topic keeps me happy driving a 2016 Volkswagen. The same fraud prompting pressured conversations once folks find out I am a Somali accountant. The fraud creating awkward vibes sitting through ethics CPE trainings focused on, you guessed it, fraud. Truth is, 2025 didn't uncover Fraud in Minnesota. The State has been all over it long before I moved here and, in the end, I believe the results will prove that.

I relocated here partly because the Minnesota Somali business community was thriving and inspirational. Minnesota Somalis were entering and leading in many key areas such as entrepreneurship, education, healthcare, and politics. Minneapolis was the hub where Somali conferences and business expos were held, and innovative ideas gained support and funding. Somalis across the world came here to do business and so did I. I saw opportunity here, a place where everyone can thrive along with all the other reasons why Minnesota is the one of the best places to raise a family. That opportunity I saw now feels diminished until a permanent solution is put in place. Taxpayers and the Somali community deserve a solution that is preventative and puts these problems to bed.

I believe by creating another layer by effectively bringing CPA firms to this mix, CPAs can be one of the answers if we leveraged the many attestation services these firms can offer. CPA firms are regulated by the Minnesota State Board of Accountancy, which require firms to maintain quality control, continuing professional education, risk management, confidentiality and independence safeguards, and a duty to protect the public interest. CPA firms may also be required to obtain peer review from an approved body such as AICPA or the MN Society of CPAs. Peer review requirements depend on the services provided.

Last year, I was one of the CPAs at the Capitol who successfully advocated for the CPA Additional Pathways bill, which Governor Walz signed into law this past May. That legislation removed a major barrier that has long limited diversity in the accounting profession. For decades, becoming a CPA required 150-credits (a five‑year college commitment), tens of thousands in student loans, and passage of one of the most difficult licensing exams all while state boards enforced ongoing CPE requirements to maintain competency. The financial barrier of needing 150 college credits disproportionately impacted low-income students and minority communities. When communities lack access to culturally competent CPAs, the risks of fraud, waste, and abuse naturally increase. ESG professionals would recognize this as a driver that contributed to this very crisis.

Discussing Fraud isn't taboo to me as I've addressed it throughout my 10-year career serving the education, non-profit, big tech, and governmental industries. During my time at Big 4 as an audit manager, I facilitated a successful SOX Controls and Fraud Training for a corporation with over $2B in revenues. We had 172 attendees, and our team received significant praise from them. Those attendees were not all accountants or financial analysts. They were also regular employees from other functions. Their participation was normal because that is how fraud prevention works. Fraud and its prevention are a shared responsibility.

At the corporate level, fraud is more intricate than billing for services never delivered. These were complex schemes involving management override and collusion between employees. Auditors in nonprofit, government, and corporate settings are required to understand the entity and its environment, investigate management’s background and qualifications, conduct mandatory fraud audit team discussions, and hold one on one inquiries with senior leadership. We also tested entity level controls such as ethics hotlines, the company's policies, risk assessments, and more. The only way to stop the toughest fraud is a strong control environment and ethical culture from the top down. Fraud prevention was a shared responsibility in corporate.

As independent auditors, these were standard procedures over historical financial reporting and controls that were solely management’s responsibility. And guess who audited our fraud responses? The PCAOB. The many layers we see here where Fraud prevention is the goal indicates everyone shares the responsibility to stop it. So why is shared responsibility everywhere but Medicaid programs?

And when fraud is caught, the person is usually pushed out quietly. No media shaming or sensationalism. Why? Because the fact they pulled it off exposes a material weakness in the company’s control environment and organizational culture. Fraud prevention becomes a bigger issue than the fraud itself because understanding how it happened matters most.

Early on I had many questions regarding Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud cases. Aren't there case managers and families involved? Where were the auditors? Who reviewed their work? Who were the accountants serving the fraudsters? Why are strong controls not the expectation for taxpayer funded programs? Why does federal law require a Single Audit for grants over $750,000 (now $1 million), yet Medicaid, another form of government funding, operates without the same expectations for significant billings into the millions?

Single Audits require strong controls over financial and cash management. They wouldn’t eliminate fraud entirely, but they would dramatically reduce it, and they would finally bring Medicaid programs up to the same accountability standards expected as grants. That's common sense though, and common sense isn't common. The reality is that in a world full of cybercrime, fake jobs, and widespread scams, this was inevitable.