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Forensic accounting
New Research on Forensic Accounting
The role of a forensic accountant
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Financial fraud have increased considerably over the years and it is likely to continue if not adequately dealt with. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) “2012 Report to the Nation” is one study that describes the losses that an entity may experience as a result of fraud; A typical organization losses approximately 5 percent of its annual revenue to fraudulent acts. The cost of fraud to business and public can only be estimated as many crimes go unreported.
Fraud can have substantial impact on a business no matter what size it is. Damages done to business organizations can be enormous ranging from financial loss, problem of public trust in the organization, shattering the company’s culture and morale and increase in audit costs.
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The management of a business must make sure that the financial statement and disclosures are adequate according to the financial reporting standards and that all disclosures are truthful. It is the responsibility of management to detect fraud in the course of preparing the financial statements. In carrying out this function, management set in place systems to help prevent and detect fraud. Auditors are appointed to audit the financial statement of companies.
By the Companies and Allied Matters Acts 1990(CAMA), the primary function of an auditor is to audit the financial statements of the company and form an opinion as to whether a) proper accounting records have been kept by the company and b) the company’s balance sheet and profit and loss account are in agreement with the accounting records and returns provided to the auditor by the company. The True and Fair view opinion by auditors on the financial statements of companies gives credibility to such reports. This have a way of convincing the users of such information that the financial statements can be relied
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George A. Manning in his book “Financial Investigation and Forensic Accounting” defines Forensic Accounting as the science of gathering and presenting financial information in a form that will be accepted by a court of jurisprudence against perpetrators of financial and or economic crimes. Okoye and Akamobi (2009) commented that forensic accounting is the practice of utilizing accounting, auditing and investigative skills to assist in legal matters. Forensic accounting is a new and rapidly growing area of accounting(especially in Nigeria) and is concerned with the detection and prevention of financial fraud and white-collar crimes.
Forensic accounting is said to bring significant improvement in the quality of fraud detection and prevention. Forensic accounting should be accountable for digging out frauds committed through application of auditing, accounting and investigative skills in order to come up with enough evidence that can be used in court proceedings(Albrecht et al,
Regardless of when financial statement fraud first occurred and the development of technology, it will be infinite. People may believe that as technology becomes more advanced, there will be less opportunity to commit fraud and it is easier to catch, but as technology evolves, so do the fraudulent schemes while weaving in the old ones but with a twist. There are always going to be individuals that feel that they will never be the one to get caught and believe that they are invincible to all. There remains a population that lives by means of entitlement, and therefore, minimizing their actions and rationalize them once given an opportunity and the perceived need equaling greed. As fraud evolves, individuals learn by other's mistakes and develop more complex schemes to provide confusion. According to the Wisconsin Law Journal (2012), “financial statement fraud is an ugly fraud with methods that are complex and often not understood by the average consumer or investor, and its results often aren’t tangible to the average person.” Therefore, by making a complex financial statement fraud, the gain is enormous with the amount of investigation overwhelming to determine a portion of the
Madura, Jeff. What Every Investor Needs to Know About Accounting Fraud. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. 1-156
This paper is designed to examine a few ways in which people commit fraud. Specifically, it will look at a recent complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) with the United States District Court for the Central District of California (“CDCA”). The complaint alleges that five executive of iPayment (the “Company”), a New York City headquartered credit and debit card processor, defrauded iPayment of approximately $11.6 million. Their alleged actions defrauded the company of millions of dollars and, in turn, caused the Company to file multiple false reports with the SEC. The three ways the alleged fraud took place was through:
[17] Robert K. Elliot, CPA and John J. Willingham PhD, CPA, Management Fraud: Detection and Deterrence. New York: Petrocelli Books, Inc., 1980, pp. vii.
Fraud auditing is an intentional misinterpretation to obtain benefit. (Mintz and Morris 2008, p.53) It includes financial reporting frauds and misappropriation of assets, which are best represented by misstatement of debts in Enron scandal and theft of assets in Tyco International Scandal respectively.
But the stakeholders play a very important role in preventing and deterring fraud. Stakeholders includes customers, suppliers, employees, the community and the government. Each play an important role since they have an interest in the integrity of financial reports of the publicly-traded company. Employees have a vested interest in the company’s success and they have a responsibility to protect their interest. Their roles may start from the bottom but they are key players in the company. To help deter or prevent financial statement fraud, the employee must report financial reporting fraud if it is detected. This can be done by way of a vigorous whistleblower program of some other tip line provided by the company. The community and its members, including the news media, can play a regulator role by confirming that the company is a good citizen with fair business practices. Shareholders should make sure that any company in which they’d like to invest is in compliance with standards of oversight and ethics. Investors need to play and active role also. They should be actively involved by monitoring the companies in which they invest. They should attend shareholder’s meeting regularly to discuss concerns and check the books of the company. This will allow them to stay current with what is going on within the company. Shareholders should always remain vigilant and make
Accounting ethics has been difficult to control as accountants and auditors must keep in mind the interest of the public while that they remain employed by the company they are auditing. The accountants should take into account how to best apply accounting standards when company faces issues related financial loss. The role of accountant is crucial to society. They serve as financial reporters to owe their primary constraint to public interest. The information provided is critical in aiding managers, investors and others in making crucial economic decisions. An accountant is responsible for any fraudulent financial reporting. Some examples of fraudulent reporting are:
When I hear the word ‘Forensic’ the idea and image of a homicide investigation in which evidence gathered is analyzed at a laboratory to determine ‘who done it’. Shows like CSI, Bones, Law and Order depicts the forensic aspect in their broadcast. Being a registered nurse, another thought comes to mind when hearing the term ‘forensic’. I like to watch Dr. G medical examiner on the Discovery channel. That is a reality show regarding investigative research on how a person died. This is done by performing an autopsy and analyzing the pathological reason for a death to determine if foul play was involved. However, I rarely placed the thought that accounting can have a forensic aspect, too. I was always under the impression that auditors were the forensic accountants. Internal Revenue Agents to audit income tax filings to make sure all income are reported, and deductions have receipts as supporting evidence. Certified Internal Auditors to look at business operations and financial statements within a corporation to make sure internal controls are in place, financial statements are properly recorded, and government regulations have been met. External auditors perform audits for SEC compliance and to attest that the company is in good standings to ensure protection of the public interest. These auditors, in essence, would be able to detect fraud in their job when reviewing audit trails and documentations. Needless to say, I my conception have been construed. There is a whole new field of accounting that is on the rise, which specifically deals with fraud detection. This is called Forensic Accounting. This area sparked my interest.
... associated to civil disputes. Forensic accountants are also identified as fraud investigators, investigative accountants, forensic auditors or fraud auditors.Forensic accountants are also increasingly playing more proactive risk reduction roles by devising and performing extended procedures as part of the statutory audit, acting as consultants to audit committees fraud deterrence engagements, and aiding in investment analyst research.
In today’s day and age, there is a lot of news that is related to corporate accounting fraud as companies intentionally manipulate their financial statements to show a better picture of their financial health. The objective of financial reporting is to provide financial information about a company to its various stakeholders such as investors and creditors so that these stakeholders can make decisions accordingly. Companies can show a better image of their financial well being by providing misleading information. This can be done by omitting material information from the books or deceitful appropriation of assets such as inventory theft, payroll fraud, check forgery or embezzlement. Fraudulent financial reporting will have an effect on the This includes but is not limited to; check forgery, inventory theft, cash or check theft, payroll fraud or service theft.
A fraud is a dishonest act by an employee that results in personal benefit to the employee at the cost to the employer. The most important elements of fraud are opportunity, Financial pressure and Rationalization. When opportunity is available to a person or a group, and they may be driven by financial pressure or driven by the power of money, he or she look for excuse to the dishonest act and commit the crime. (Kimmel, weygandt, kieso, 337) We are quite frequency overwhelm by the fraud reports.
To identify how we can prevent ourselves from these frauds and how we can control the occurrence of these frauds.
The fundamental duty of an external financial auditor is to form and express an opinion on whether the reporting entity’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework. In discharging this duty, the auditor must exercise “reasonable skill, care and caution” (Lopes, J. in Kingston Cotton Mill Co 1896) as reflected in current legal and professional requirements.
Auditing has been the backbone of the complicated business world and has always changed with the times. As the business world grew strong, auditors’ roles grew more important. The auditors’ job became more difficult as the accounting principles changed. It also became easier with the use of internal controls, which introduced the need for testing, not a complete audit. Scandals and stock market crashes made auditors aware of deficiencies in auditing, and the auditing community was always quick to fix those deficiencies. Computers played an important role of changing the way audits were performed and also brought along some difficulties.
The topic on auditing also prepares the accounting students to undertake quality audits so as to conform to the standards by reviewing the objective evidence. Quality audits verify the effectiveness of the management system. They are also essential in providing evidence that is concerned with the elimination and the reduction of problem areas since they are management tools for achieving continuous improvement in the organization. In addition, the knowledge on international auditing standards acts as a competitive advantage for the accounting students in the job market. Companies tend to give first priority to students who possess this knowledge since they perceive that they are at a better position to improving the efficiency of the company as well as realizing its goals and objectives in an effective manner (Wu & Tsai, 2006, p. 445). Accounting students with the auditing knowledge also earn a better salary as compared to their co-workers in the job arena since it is perceived that they perform a major task in the organization.