Corporate Fraud: Prevention Techniques and Metrics

With different industry definitions and viewpoints, fraud can be a tough issue for audit committee members to grasp for oversight purposes. The legal obligations of audit committee members have intensified because their standard duty of care and loyalty to the entity has increased in light of management fraud activities.

Professional auditing standards discuss the three key “conditions” that are typically present when a financial fraud occurs and identify a lengthy list of “fraud risk factors.”

Internal fraud consists in “a type of fraud that is committed by an individual against an organization. [Furthermore], a perpetrator of fraud engages in activities that are designed to defraud, misappropriate property, or circumvent the regulations, law, or policies of a company”[8]. Not only has the incidence of internal fraud increased in frequency because of the availability of sensitive information such as client details or confidential business documents; moreover, this type of fraud is found in various types of organizations, ranging from corporations, public service institutions and financial institutions. Our analysis will concentrate on the most common and prolific types of internal fraud, namely identity theft, insider trading, loan fraud and wire fraud. Interestingly, PriceWaterhouseCooper conducted a survey that revealed that the “demographics of a typical fraudster are as follows: males (85% of cases), 31-50 years (72% of cases), reached high-school level (50%), Bachelor’s or post graduate degree (50%) and middle or senior management (52%)”[9].

* U.S. governmental oversight of accounting fraud and abuse and its effect on the company Potential corruption schemes to be aware of in the company

Fraud knowledge benefits stakeholders in multiple ways. By understanding how financial statement fraud occurs, stakeholders can recognize red flags in financial statements. Outside accounting, fraud knowledge enables stakeholders to be productive members of a corporate governance. Corporate governances work as principal catalysts for stakeholders to raise corporate awareness and expectations regarding appropriate behavior and practices. Stakeholders use their fraud knowledge to contribute to the company’s Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics for management and employees as well as participate in risk mitigation efforts. Stakeholders can also participate in boards that create programs that focus on the prevention, detection, and deterrence of criminal and fraudulent acts. The goal of the programs is to ensure that everyone is making ethical decisions and reporting policies that are not followed. Maintaining corporate ethics is critical to company success (Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide n.d.)

Fraud is an issue that causes major scandals, although it is a very ancient scheme. Recent fraud events gave light to gaps that facilitated its events. Its extent was drastic by affecting financial markets that eventually trickled into global markets. Major organizations and countries worked cohesively and continue to address the gaps and, in effect, implemented strict compliance regulations to diminish and refrain fraudulent activities. Strict compliance regulations are examples of a fraud response plan the small family business could have implemented to refrain the perpetrators from fraudulent incidents, protect organizational assets and the organization’s going concern.

Descriptions of the main aspects of the regulatory environment which will protect the public from fraud within corporations are going to be provided in this paper. A special attention to the Sarbanes – Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) requirement; along with an evaluation of whether Sarbanes-Oxley Act will be effective in avoiding future frauds based on their implemented rules and regulations.

A study conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) surveyed 959 cases of reported occupational fraud between 2006 and 2008. The report broke fraud into three categories: fraudulent statements, asset misappropriation, and corruption. Ninety-nine of the 959 cases reported financial statement fraud with a median loss of two million dollars, making it the most costly of the fraud categories. In general, the study found that publicly traded companies that had implemented SOX controls reported fewer losses (70 to 96 percent) than those who had not implemented SOX controls. These results imply that implementation of SOX controls are directly related to a reduction in theft and other fraudulent behaviors. Surprisingly, it was noticed that in companies where management must certify the financial statements, fraud took approximately three months longer to detect than in those companies where management was not required to certify the financial statements. However, due to the complexity and relative newness of SOX and the complexity of the businesses and the ingenuity of people, it is not surprising that SOX has not been a booming success. Hopefully, over time, all the wrinkles will be ironed out allowing for deterrence or immediate detection to be attainable. (Rappeport,

The auditing firm has been in engagement with the company throughout the period when the fraud was being committed. One of the common and clear indicators of possible fraud was the company’s cash flow statement. The company experienced positive growth in its profits from the year 1996 through to the year 1998. However, a close analysis of the cash flow statement shows that the company had experienced negative figures of cash flow from both operating and investing activities and positive cash flow from financing activities which would not sufficiently offset the negative cash flows from operating and investing. It is therefore evident

Occupational fraud is broken down into three main categories with each of them carrying a different risk and associated prevalence. It is also imperative to understand the overall risks as well as which types are more common than others. These realizations are what is needed before it can be detected and prevented. It can help determine specific internal controls are needed to be in place within a company.

Fraudulent, erroneous, and illegal acts committed by a public company, usually at a managerial or executive level, have been a very serious problem for many years and have prompted development of strict and updated regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in an attempt to prevent these occurrences. Unfortunately, these new or updated regulations are not enough to prevent these acts from happening, thus not alleviating the auditors of their responsibility to detect fraud. Some methods that management and auditors can employ to prevent and detect fraud, errors, and illegal acts are: improving knowledge, improving skills,

This research examines the extent of the use of the financial investigation method to advance the process of fraud investigation. To achieve this aim, an exploratory case study was utilised to allow the researcher conducting an in-depth investigation. This case study is carried out by exploring several fraud cases that significantly used financial investigation method in the process of investigation.

This research paper will explore the fraud at Tyco and focus primarily on accounting and auditing issues related to the fraud. One thing worth noting about this case is that fraudulent financial reporting was not at the core of the fraud, which was the case with majority other big frauds at the time, such as Enron and Waste Management. On the contrary, fraud consisted of misappropriation of assets, and fraudulent financial reporting came as a consequence of trying to hide misappropriation of assets and the use of corporate money for personal benefit.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners reported that companies lose a median rate of 5 percent of revenue due to fraud and theft. [2] Globally, this amounts to $3.7 trillion, and small-to-medium-sized enterprises average greater losses as percentages of income. Automated alerts and custom reports that are generated by integrated software can detect fraud proactively.

A business can not work out without an account system, which includes internal. Internal controls are used by companies to make sure financial information is accurate and valid. Strong internal controls are signs of a financially healthy company and protect the company’s integrity. Strong internal controls can also increase a company’s profitability. There are several types of internal controls that companies used to protect themselves such as: Segregation of duties, asset purchases, supervisor review, internal audits and adequate documents and records. This paper will discuss several topics from a case study about And the Fraud