Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies That Retail Business Owners Use To Prevent And Reduce Employee Theft, Mohammed Alcobary

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retail business owners suffer billions of dollars in financial loss from employee theft and fraud activities, which impacts a retail business owner’s ability to remain financially stable and profitable. Retail business leaders are accountable for employee theft because employee theft goes beyond the financial loss to impact business failure and the organization’s loss of reputation. Grounded in Cressey’s fraud triangle theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies retail business leaders use to prevent and mitigate employee theft. Participants included six retail business leaders in Nigeria who had successfully used strategies to prevent and reduce …

Impact Of Internal Control On Fraud In Ghana’S Cap 30 Pension Payment, David Annan-Bonny

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Pensions Ordinance No. 42 of 1950 (Pensions Act 1950), coded as the Cap 30 pension system, provides for pensions, gratuities, and other allowances for public servants. But despite internal controls, Ghana’s Cap 30 pension payment system continues to suffer from corruption. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of internal controls on fraud in the payment of Cap 30 pension gratuities and allowances at the national treasury in Ghana as well as the factors that inhibit the effective application of internal controls in the processing, computation, and payment of Cap 30 pension gratuities and allowances. The …

Impostor Scams, David Adam Friedman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Impostor scams have recently become the most common type of consumer scam in America, surpassing identity theft. It has never been easier and more profitable to be an impostor scammer. Though the core of these scams dates back centuries, these fraudsters consistently find novel ways to manipulate human motives and emotions. Nonetheless, the public should not give up hope. Policymakers and private actors can slow down this scourge if they focus on the key chokepoints that impostor scammers rely upon to achieve their ends. This Article provides a roadmap for a solution to impostor scams, offering specific suggestions for mitigating …

Mitigating Financial Fraud Risk With Data Analytics, Clarence Goh, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The risks associated with financial fraud that modern CFOs face today is particularly high. The same report examined Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US from 2014 to 2019 and found that while the SEC frequently charged the person directly responsible for perpetuating the financial fraud, the CFO was among the most commonly charged employees. Data analytics techniques can play an important role in mitigating the risk of financial fraud for CFOs.

The Fraud Triangle And Tax Evasion, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The “fraud triangle”—a theory of why people commit fraud —is the preeminent framework for analyzing fraud in the accounting literature. It developed out of studies of fraudsters, including inmates convicted of embezzlement. The three components of the fraud triangle are (1) an incentive or pressure (usually financial); (2) opportunity; and (3) rationalization.

There is a separate, extensive legal literature on tax compliance and evasion. The fraud triangle is largely absent from this legal literature, although tax evasion is a type of fraud. This Article rectifies that oversight, analyzing how using the fraud triangle as a lens can inform the legal …

The Auditor's Responsibilities For Fraud Detection And Disclosure: Do The Auditing Standards Provide A Safe Harbor?, James L. Costello

Maine Law Review

Eighty-seven percent of managers recently surveyed were willing to commit financial statement fraud. More than half were willing to overstate assets, forty-eight percent were willing to understate loss reserves and thirty-eight percent would "pad" a government contract. These disturbing results are underscored by the financial miseries still brewing in the savings and loan industry, as well as by other corporate and banking financial debacles of the past decade, including Lincoln Savings & Loan, Wedtech, and the Delorean sports car venture scandal. Amidst these financial ruins we find the chronic element of management fraud. Unfortunately for investors and depositors a troublesome …

Small Nonprofit Fraud: Risk Mitigation Strategies, Anne M. Marchetti

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fraud is a significant worldwide issue for organizations of every size and industry. Small nonprofit organizations are particularly vulnerable to financial and reputational loss due to a fraud incident, which can be devastating. Grounded in the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission framework, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore fraud risk mitigation strategies employed by management in a small nonprofit organization in Florida. Three managers in a small nonprofit organization in Florida, participated in face-to-face semistructured interviews to share their fraud risk mitigation strategies. The data collection process also included inspection of business …

A Dive Into Eb-5: A Need For Complete Modernization Of U.S. Investor-Based Immigration Program Or Eb-5 (Employment-Based Immigration: Fifth Preference), James Reiser

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fraud Prevention For Seniors, Claudia Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The senior population has been a target for fraudulent crimes. The determined contributing factors for the senior population being susceptible to fraud is being gullible, lacking knowledge of strategies to prevent fraud, and having cognitive decline due to aging. Fraudulent crimes can have major consequences such as, monetary cost, negative effects on health and unreported cases. Fraudulent crimes against seniors is a growing issue and must be addressed. In order to address this issue within the community a capstone project was developed and implemented in collaboration with the Monterey County District Attorney's Office of Consumerism and Environmental Protection Division. This …

Chief Financial Officer Demographic Characteristics And Fraudulent Financial Reporting In China, Jinghui Sun, Pamela Kent, Baolei Qi, Jiwei Wang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We investigate whether management's cognitions, values and perceptions are associated with fraud for 18 863 firm-years for Chinese listed firms from 2000 to 2014. Demographic characteristics of the chief financial officer (CFO) are used as proxies for management's cognitions, values and perceptions. We find that fraudulent financial reporting is higher when CFOs are younger, male, and have lower education backgrounds. An analysis of inflated earnings, fictitious assets, material omissions and other material misstatements provide similar results, with the exception that CFOs with higher education levels are associated with more inflated earnings. Accounting and Finance

Nonprofit Governance: The Basics, Lawrence J. Trautman, Janet Ford

Akron Law Review

Nonprofit organizations are prevalent in today’s economy, and many are governed by individuals who have been chosen on the basis of their advocacy of or contributions to various nonprofit causes rather than on the basis of business experience or acumen. Yet effective nonprofit governance, while presenting concerns unique to nonprofits, also presents many of the same concerns as does governance of for-profit entities. This article seeks to provide a primer for nonprofit organizations that need to recruit effective governance talent. First, we discuss the nature of nonprofits, their impact on the business landscape, and their similarities to and differences from …

Faculty And Staff Perception Of Financial Fraud In Higher Education, Stephanie Hammons

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This research was designed to survey full-time faculty and staff, from multiple universities, about their experience of fraud within their current and previous institution. Through the survey, we were provided insight into the perception of fraud within higher education institutions and the faculty and staff perception of how the institution handled it. Through the information provided in the survey, it is revealed if whether fraud is a rare occurrence at most institutions or if whether it is a bigger problem than it appears to be. In addition, we will learn how many instances of fraud within different institutions participants have …

Strategies To Prevent And Detect Occupational Fraud In Small Retail Businesses, Marquita V. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business owners' lack of strategies to prevent and detect occupational fraud in small retail businesses in the United States could result in substantial financial losses or insolvency. Grounded in Cressey's fraud triangle, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore internal control strategies 6 owners of small retail businesses in southeastern Pennsylvania used to prevent and detect occupational fraud. Face-to-face interviews, observations, and documentation are the data collection techniques I used in this study. Data were transcribed, coded, analyzed, and member checked to identify emergent themes. Six themes emerged from the thematic analysis: financial impact, transaction responsibility and …

Cryptocurrency Fraud: A Look Into The Frontier Of Fraud, Stafford C. Baum

Honors College Theses

This research project was conducted to look into what sort of frauds can be committed to steal unsuspecting investors’ cryptocurrencies. The inspiration for this research came in the form of the fact that millions of dollars are lost to cryptocurrency fraud each day, and many of these frauds are successful due to the public’s naivete towards the dangers of investing in cryptocurrencies. After researching many different cryptocurrency fraud cases, the frauds could be categorized into four major categories. These categories include Ponzi schemes, fake initial coin offering schemes, pump and dump schemes as well as cryptocurrency theft.

Investigating Information Security Policy Characteristics: Do Quality, Enforcement And Compliance Reduce Organizational Fraud?, Dennis T. Brown

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

Organizational fraud, a deceitful practice or willful device resorted to with intent to deprive another of his right, or in some manner to do harm or injury, is a growing global concern. While cyberattacks from the outside are more expected, the internal security threat from trusted insiders is responsible for significantly more information compromise than external threats. Information systems make life easier but are increasingly used by employees to perpetrate fraudulent activities. For example, a trusted insider employee with access to sensitive customer databases could misappropriate information and sell it to a competitor for personal gain. These type losses are …

An Analysis Of Fraud Prevention And Detection In Not-For-Profit Organizations In The State Of South Carolina, Mary Gibson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study analyzed fraud detection and prevention techniques and analyzed if there was a relationship between the techniques and the detection of fraud. The combined techniques were fraud risk assessment, fraud risk register, code of conduct, fraud assessment training, whistle-blower policy, fraud control plan, fraud control policy, and internal control review. Nonprofits are vulnerable to fraud and costly for the organizations that rely heavily on donations to provide needed services or goods to a community. Through analyzing 109 nonprofits surveyed in South Carolina, the researcher found 59 reported fraud occurrences and 86 percent were using fraud detection and prevention techniques. …

Domestic Asset Tracing And Recovery Of Hidden Assets And The Spoils Of Financial Crime, Nathan Wadlinger, Carl Pacini, Nicole Stowell, William Hopwood, Debra Sinclair

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Ponzi Schemes And The Awareness Of South Carolina Students To Financial Fraud, John Michael Williams, Sara Strauch, Drew Duncan

Senior Theses

Ponzi schemes have continued to grow since the 1920s when Charles Ponzi conducted the first successful Ponzi scheme. Since then, technology has advanced which can help fraudulent investors obtain money easier, but legislation has also improved in order to try to find these investors and stop them before they take large amounts of money from innocent individuals. Since Ponzi schemes have been around for almost 100 years now, there is a lot of research available to explain to investors what Ponzi schemes are and how to spot one before you invest in it. However, even though all of this research …

Fraud And The Evolution Of Forensic Accounting Education, Abel Pors

Senior Honors Theses

Forensic accounting, the use of accounting practices in court, developed as a field separate from traditional accounting or auditing throughout the 1900’s. As fraud changed the landscape of auditing practice, forensic accounting slowly began to take shape as the accountant’s answer to fraud. After a series of major frauds at the beginning of the 21st century, forensic accounting became one of the most demanded fields of accounting. The profession, though, was still relatively in its infancy: forensic accountants were predominantly untrained aside from firsthand experience. Since the early 2000’s, schools have begun rapidly implementing forensic accounting programs to meet the …

The Importance And Implications Of Forensic Accounting In The Financial World, Mackenzie Hitchcock

Undergraduate Honors College Theses 2016-

This thesis thoroughly explores fraud and the forensic accounting profession. It details the education, training, and careers of forensic accountants; and why demand for this profession has suddenly spiked. The necessary skills of forensic accountants and why these skills are valuable is explored; a need for better education and training is also proposed. It also details popular forensic accounting methods and how these may be used to detect fraud. This thesis explains several fraud schemes and famous frauds that were contributors to the growing demand of forensic accountants. The fraud triangle and other contributing factors are explored. This thesis also …

Revenue Accrual Quality As An Indicator Of Financial Statement Fraud, Meredith Potts Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study was conducted to address the need for additional financial statement fraud detection techniques. Accruals were chosen as the focus of this study due to the high likelihood of financial statement manipulation using accruals. Using the Dechow/Dichev accrual quality model, this study tested whether or not accrual quality can be used as an indicator of financial statement fraud. The study concluded that the Dechow/Dichev model found non-fraudulent financial statements to have higher quality accruals than fraudulent financial statements. In addition, accrual quality of non-fraudulent financial statements was found to be significantly different from the accrual quality of fraudulent financial …

The Financial Exploitation And Abuse Of The Elderly, Christopher Hodges

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The criminal industry of elder financial fraud and exploitation (EFFE) is a growing concern among policy makers as well as researchers. This is due to the growing financial impact exploiters are having on their victims. EFFE is defined by the National Center on Elder Abuse as “the illegal or improper use of an elder’s funds, property, or assets (NCEA, 2017).” Following this definition, the quantity of wealth determined to have been lost due to EFFE is staggering. As the tangible capital loss has grown so has the need for more research into this topic. The research in this paper seeks …

Reconceptualizing The Whistleblower’S Dilemma, Miriam H. Baer

Faculty Scholarship

Since its inception in August 2011, the SEC’s whistleblowing program has received over 18,000 tips and has distributed over thirty awards. The Commission’s Enforcement Division has lauded the program, emphasizing its recoveries (over $500 million in the aggregate) as well as its generous bounties (over $100 million total). Nevertheless, an agency focused on deterrence must pay attention to the volume of credible reports it receives from insiders, particularly because deterrence has been shown to rest so strongly on the putative wrongdoer’s perceived probability of detection. From that perspective, the program’s success is more ambiguous: twenty-six covered actions (some involving more …

Financial Fraud Risk Management And Corporate Governance, Raymond Lutui, Tau'aho 'Ahokovi

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Risk management is important so that risk is assessed, understood and appropriately managed. This is important both for conformance and performance. It is essential that strategic planning and management decisions are made appropriately in the context of the risk appetite of the corporation and its various stakeholders – especially its shareholders. If a company does not have a good understanding of risk, the likelihood of conformance and performance failure is high, this implies good internal and external corporate intelligence. Large global corporations have a significant impact on economies around the world. These entities are subject to intense competition and require …

Using Benford’S Law And Mean Absolute Deviation To Distinguish Bankrupt Fraudulent Companies And Healthy Currently Operating Companies, Gary G. Johnson, Anthony W. Varnon, Shuyang Zhang

Journal of Business, Industry, and Economics

This study applies Benford’s Law to four account balances of healthy operating companies and bankrupt fraudulent companies to determine if the probability distributions related to the accounts are different between the two types of companies. Account balances for Revenue, Expense, Income Tax Expense, and Earnings per Share were drawn from three years of quarterly and annual financial statements. Two calculation models of Mean Absolute Deviation were used in assessing the conformity range of the account balances to Benford’s Law. Combination of the two models indicates that the Expense account of the healthy operating companies was in conformity with Benford’s Law, …

A Cost Of Doing Business: Defense Contracting Fraud, Shane M. English

Capstones

The federal government relies heavily on outside contractors to provide essential research and services. Following World War II, the Department of Defense and the military began to rely on approved government contractors to develop, test and improve weapons and tools used to keep soldiers and the nation safe.

Defense contracting is a massive business that commands billions of dollars a year. Despite the magnitude of the United States' contracting system, detecting fraud and preventing bad actors from continuing to profit off of the government has proven difficult. The systems at hand: civil and criminal charges, suspension and debarment have consistently …

Evaluation Of Internal Control System Over According Misleading Accounting Information, Safwan Qusay Altaha, Tayseer Mohmmed Jumma

Journal of Economics and Administrative Sciences

The economic and financial crises in the world economy series led to increased awareness of the importance of the internal control system, because it is one of the main pillars of any economic unit, as it works to verify the application of policies, regulations and laws and verification of asset protection from theft and embezzlement procedures, it is also working on trust accounting information imparted through the validation of accounting information, analyze and detect the misleading. The existence the internal control system a factor in many of the accounting practices that limit the ability of the administration to produce misleading …

Data Mining Journal Entries For Fraud Detection: A Replication Of Debreceny And Gray's (2010) Techniques, Poh Sun Seow, Pan, Gary, Themin Suwardy

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

The alarming frequency of fraud occurrences suggests that corporations continue to face persistent threat of fraud (Cecchini et al., 2010a; Summers and Sweeney, 1998). According to Association of Certified Fraud Examiner (ACFE)’s 2014 Report, a typical organization may lose five percent of its revenue to fraud every year. As such, the consequences of fraud may impact the shareholders, creditors, auditors and the public’s confidence in the integrity of corporations’ financial systems (Rezaee, 2005).

Accounting Information Systems: Ethics, Fraudulent Behavior, And Preventative Measures, Jasmine S. Smith

Honors College Theses

Most business organizations have implemented Accounting Information Systems to improve efficiency and to help optimize use of company resources. The evolution of Information Technology within financial and accounting processes has brought new ethical issues, forms of fraudulent behavior, and mechanisms to prevent compromising confidential, sensitive, and personal information. This investigation focuses on the evolution of Accounting Information Systems and their controls for limiting fraud and misconduct in financial and accounting processes.

Are We Heading Toward A Charter School "Bubble"?: Lessons From The Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Preston C. Green Iii, Bruce D. Baker, Joseph O. Oluwole, Julie F. Mead

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.