Trust Issues By: Dorothy Riggs, CFE The basic definition of trust is placing confidence in your belief that a person or thing is authentic, truthful, able and stable.  Each individual or entity is the sole owner of his or her trust. Thus, the decision regarding whether or not to extend trust is left totally to the issuer’s discretion.  However, that decision can be influenced by several factors such as:  intuition, resumes, recommendations, commendations, references, experience, credentials, reports, analytics and etc.