Business Commons^™

Investment Fraud In The Mountain West, Riley Ruff, Vanessa Booth, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet focuses on investment fraud data in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. The original report includes data from “The 2023 State of Investment Fraud” study conducted by Carlson Law.

Tracking The Donor Dollar: A Critical Examination Of Ngo Impact, Joshua Werth

Senior Honors Theses

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) comprise the backbone of civilization. Whether intended or not, governments fail to improve social situations, financial standings, and spirituality comprehensively. NGOs attempt to cover these areas. From Angola to Zambia, countless NGOs exist around the world; however, many fail due to a misplaced focus internally on the annual donations received rather than externally on the disenfranchised. Additionally, even if NGOs manage to stay afloat, they will need help procuring funds and then distributing those resources with the most effective impact for the impoverished. The honors thesis proposed will attempt to determine more effective impact measurements for NGOs, …

Wirecard And Potential U.S. Audit Issues, Benoit Boyer, Danny A. Pannese, Paul N. Iannone

WCBT Faculty Publications

The German company Wirecard saga is yet to be fully written. Similar in scope to Enron and others in the early 2000’s, many lessons will be learned for company executives, regulators, and especially auditors worldwide. For U.S. companies and auditors, the PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) has promulgated comprehensive audit standards and procedures designed for public companies, but these standards also could have ancillary application to private companies for auditors when planning the audit engagement. The red flags and audit issues that manifested in the Wirecard events will provide the financial and academic communities with robust case studies as …

Strategies And Internal Control Procedures For Decreasing Fraud In Faith-Based Nonprofit Organizations, Shawn Thomas Miller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study addressed the problem regarding the lack of strategies and internal controls in faith-based nonprofit organizations which resulted in a higher risk of fraud, waste of funds, or abuse of funds in charities, churches, and other related ministries. This risk was the result of trust by organizations that employees would not commit fraud and due to a lack of sufficient resources. This study specifically researched faith-based nonprofit organizations that are located in Texas. This qualitative case study included two faith-based nonprofit organizations located in or near Houston, Texas. The research found several themes including: frauds occur, segregation of duties, …

Auditor Inability To Use Professional Skepticism, Tiffany D. Schuster

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study sought to understand challenges to Louisville, Kentucky Certified Public Accounting firms and the development of auditor professional skepticism. The research considered the problem of the lack of professional skepticism and the importance of the skill in the auditor's role. The study focused on three levels of auditing roles, their experience in auditing, education levels, and overall experience in their current role. The research methodology was a single case study design and interviewed participants through gaining insight from their experiences in the auditing field, and the challenges faced. The research deepened the understanding of problems and contributing factors …

The Association Fallacy – Fraud And Financial Reporting Quality In The Customer-Supplier Relationship, Nicholas Willett

Honors Scholar Theses

As with individuals, corporate entities are vulnerable to committing logical fallacies in the decision-making process. One such fallacy that has been observed across multiple disciplines is the phenomenon of guilt by association, here referred to as the “association fallacy.” In this study, I demonstrate the existence of the association fallacy within historical customer-supplier relationships, during which the supplier is named in an SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Release (AAER). A panel regression is employed to track indicators of customer earnings management behavior in the years before, during, and after the supplier AAER. A cross-sectional analysis is also used to assess …

Upcoding Medicare: Is Healthcare Fraud And Abuse Increasing?, Alberto Coustasse, Whitney Layton, Laikyn Nelson, Victoria Walker

Management Faculty Research

Medicare fraud has been the cause of up to $60 billion in overpaid claims in 2015 alone. Upcoding occurs when a healthcare provider has submitted codes for more severe conditions than diagnosed for the patient to receive higher reimbursement. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Medicare and Medicaid fraud to determine the magnitude of upcoding inpatient and outpatient claims throughout reimbursements.

The methodology for this study utilized a literature review. The literature review analyzed physician upcoding throughout present on admission infections, diagnostic related group upcoding, emergency department, and clinic upcoding. It was found that upcoding …

Predictors Of Fraudulent Monday Effect Workers Compensation Claims Filing, Sharla St. Rose

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monday Effect Claims refer to workers compensation claims filed on Mondays for easy to conceal injuries such as strains, sprains, and back injuries. Researchers and industry experts have long believed that there is an element of fraud in these claims, resulting from individuals who were injured during the weekend, while not at work, looking to take advantage of the medical benefits available through workers compensation insurance. Fraudulent Monday Effect Claims (FMEC), as presented in this study, specifically refer to workers compensation claims filed for injuries that occurred while an individual was not at work, presumably during the weekend.

A study …

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.

Pharmacy Internal Controls: A Call For Greater Vigilance During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew N. Mason

Faculty Publications -School of Business

For businesses that store physical goods, managing product inventories and financial cost accounting controls are critical. Pharmacies are under considerable scrutiny, due to the nature of their merchandise, making internal controls even more vital. Due to the emergence of COVID-19 and government mitigation strategies, the US economy has seen significant macro- and microeconomic effects. COVID-19 has changed the pharmacy working environment, which could theoretically increase rates of employee drug diversion. Therefore, better inventory management could reduce the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs from fraudulent and drug diversion activities. The author explored secondary findings to create a multidisciplinary conceptual analysis of the …

Applying Visual Analytics To Fraud Detection Using Benford's Law, Clarence Goh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Benford's law has been examined as a useful tool for detecting potential accounting fraud. In this article, I provide an introduction to Benford's law and examine how the first digit, second digit, and first-two digits tests in Benford's law can be employed to detect potential accounting fraud. In addition, I also highlight, through a worked example, how Tableau, a visual analytics tool, can be used to perform Benford's law's first-digit test to detect potential fraud.

Ums_Hr_Increase In Fraudulent Unemployment Claims Email, University Of Maine System

Office of Human Resources

Email from the University of Maine System Office of Human Resources warning faculty and staff regarding the increased number of fraudulent unemployment claims and what to do about them.

Fraudulent Stock Certificates Of The Norfolk & Western Railway, David Adams

MSU Libraries

No abstract provided.

Improving Accountants' Ability To Identify, Manage, And Prevent Fraud In Not-For-Profit Organizations, Gabrielle Pauline Fish

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Fraud is a growing problem in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector; this problem increases because of the lack of fraud-prevention preparation had by NFP financial professionals. Furthermore, asset misappropriation is the most commonly perpetrated occupational fraud in NFPs. Although approximately 90% of all reported frauds are asset misappropriation, a gap in existing research results in limited data regarding asset misappropriation in NFPs. This study contains an extensive examination of peer-reviewed research regarding fraud topics, with an emphasis on asset misappropriation. The conceptual framework incorporated the Fraud Management Lifecycle Theory, the Fraud Triangle Theory, the Theory of White-Collar Crime, and the Routine …

Private Company Lies, Elizabeth Pollman

All Faculty Scholarship

Rule 10b-5’s antifraud catch-all is one of the most consequential pieces of American administrative law and most highly developed areas of judicially-created federal law. Although the rule broadly prohibits securities fraud in both public and private company stock, the vast majority of jurisprudence, and the voluminous academic literature that accompanies it, has developed through a public company lens.

This Article illuminates how the explosive growth of private markets has left huge portions of U.S. capital markets with relatively light securities fraud scrutiny and enforcement. Some of the largest private companies by valuation grow in an environment of extreme information asymmetry …

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

Perception Of Nonprofit Employees And Board Governance On The Internal Control Of Contributions: A Qualitative Study, Holly Andrea Caldwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research contributes to the very limited number of qualitative studies on the development and implementation of internal controls in nonprofit organizations. The study explored the understanding of perceptions regarding internal controls in cash contributions from nonprofit organizational employees, Executive Directors/CEOs, and board members. This embedded single-case study consists of eight nonprofit organizations located in the Commonwealth of Virginia of the United States. Eleven themes of board governance, communication, contributions, development of policies and procedures, efficiency, fiduciary duty, leadership, resource availability, separation of duties, training, and trust were identified through interviews, review of policies and procedures for cash receipts and …

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 …

Fraud In Small Businesses: A Preliminary Study, Esther Bunn, Jack Ethridge, Kaili Crow

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the attitudes small business owners and managers have towards fraud and internal controls. Commonly small businesses consist of long-term friends and relatives and tend to embody a culture of family, love, and trust. Four factors were identified that lend themselves to a lack of internal controls and a breeding ground for fraud. A survey was distributed to small business owners and management. The responses were analyzed and compared to the data in the 2016 American Certified Fraud Examiners Report to the Nations. Of the four expectations studied, only the anticipated results of Expectation 1 were confirmed.

Exploring The Perceptions Of Accountants On Academic Preparations Related To Occupational Fraud And Internal Control Weaknesses, Mohamad Majdi Sahloul

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Occupational fraud and internal control material weaknesses (ICMWs) have become global issues due to the strong correlation between internal control (IC) and fraud revelation. However, academic education (AE) has a positive influence on deliberative reasoning and ethical decisions. Nevertheless, little is known of how accountants perceive their AE prepared them to detect fraud and respond to ICMWs. Thus, there is a need to explore how accountants perceive the strengths and weaknesses in their AE regarding fraud and ICMWs. The study contains a comprehensive review of articles published by peer-reviewed journals, particularly in the last five years. The conceptual framework included …

Chapter: “Health Law And Ethics”, Allison K. Hoffman, I. Glenn Cohen, William M. Sage

All Faculty Scholarship

Law and ethics are both essential attributes of a high-functioning health care system and powerful explainers of why the existing system is so difficult to improve. U.S. health law is not seamless; rather, it derives from multiple sources and is based on various theories that may be in tension with one another. There are state laws and federal laws, laws setting standards and laws providing funding, laws reinforcing professional prerogatives, laws furthering social goals, and laws promoting market competition. Complying with law is important, but health professionals also should understand that the legal and ethical constraints under which health systems …

Is Upcoding Anesthesia Time The Tip Of The Iceberg In Insurance Fraud?, Alberto Coustasse, Mike Frame, Avinandan Mukherjee

Management Faculty Research

The question of whether there is anomalous billing in anesthesia care is beginning to be asked by operating room managers, health care administrators, policy makers, and regulators. This question may arise when an anesthesia case seems to take more time to complete than it should. Audits, when conducted, have found that an unusual number of claims end with the digits 0 or 5 as if large numbers of cases start or end on the 5-minute mark. Such a finding serves as a red flag for that practice to undergo an audit. Questions may also be raised because the percentage of …

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. …

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 Association Between Audit Fees And Accounting Restatement Resulting From Accounting Fraud And Clerical Errors, Daniel Gyung Paik, Taewoo Kim, Kip Krumwiede, Brandon B. Lee

Accounting Faculty Publications

Restatements of financial reporting arise from many sources including changes in accounting rules, changes in reporting entity, accounting errors, and fraud (or “irregularities”). Theory predicts that audit effort (measured by audit fees) and financial report restatements should be negatively associated because more audit effort means that auditors should be more likely to find errors or other issues that could lead to later restatement (Shibano 1990; Matsumura and Tucker, 1992; Lobo and Zhao, 2013). However, other studies have found either a positive association or no association between audit fees and subsequent restatements (Kinney et al., 2004; Stanley and DeZoort, 2007; Cao …

Interpersonal Affect, Accountability And Experience In Auditor Fraud Risk Judgments And The Processing Of Fraud Cues, Jennifer Schafer, Brad Schafer

Faculty and Research Publications

This paper examines whether auditors’ affect toward client management influences fraud likelihood judgments and whether accountability and experience with fraud risk judgments moderate this effect. This research also explores the process by which affect influences fraud judgments by examining affect’s influence on the evaluation of fraud evidence cues. Results indicate that more positive affect toward the client results in lower fraud likelihood judgments. Accountability is found to moderate this effect, but only for experienced auditors. These findings have implications for fraud brainstorming sessions where all staff levels provide input into fraud risk assessments and because client characteristics are especially salient …

Constructive Ambiguity And Judicial Development Of Insider Trading, Jill E. Fisch

All Faculty Scholarship

The Texas Gulf Sulphur decision began what has become a fifty-year project of developing U.S. insider trading regulation through judicial lawmaking. During the course of that project, the courts developed a complex, fraud-based approach to determining the scope of liability. The approach has led, in many cases, to doctrinal uncertainty, a result that is reflected in the recent decisions in Newman, Salman, and Martoma.

n the face of this uncertainty, many commentators have called for a legislative solution. This article argues, however, that the true challenge of insider trading regulation is a lack of consensus about the …

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 …

Selecting An Alternative National Banking System Against Fractional Reserve Free Banking: The Greatest Modern Fraud?, Josiah J. Bardy

Senior Honors Theses

This paper serves as a compilation and analysis of different banking systems with an emphasis on fractional reserve free banking. Contemporary academic literature has debated fractional reserve banking with revisited scrutiny since the 2007–2009 financial crisis. The Austrian School, drawing conclusions from the Austrian business cycle theory, blames central banking for boom-bust economics. One proposed solution, fractional reserve free banking, eliminates the central bank’s control for a purer form of fractional reserve practice; however, this system may be inherently fraudulent and unethical. After completing an economic analysis of the western world’s banking system, this paper then explores an alternative solution.

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).