NCJ Number
70387
Date Published
1980
Length
5 pages
Annotation
An interdisciplinary approach (behavioral sciences, accounting, and auditing) in research on the detection and deterrence of management fraud is discussed.
Abstract
Significant behavioral issues that must be researched if advances are to be made in detecting and deterring fraud include the behavior involved in the fraud itself, the classes or types of persons who tend to commit management fraud, the types of organizations in which fraud occurs, the kinds of pressures on organizations and individuals that make fraud more likely, and why some persons participate in fraud while others do not. Behavioral scientists, however, are not now responsible for detecting or deterring fraud. Auditors are generally responsible for designing systems of internal controls that can deter fraud and conducting accounting reviews that can detect fraudulent business practices. Auditors' knowledge of behavioral studies related to management fraud gives them a repertoire of generalizations and behavioral patterns useful in designing internal controls that can deter organizational behavior conducive to fraud and identifying behavioral 'red flags' that indicate fraud. The development of a comprehensive body of knowledge that will help auditors in the aforementioned respects must grow from multidisciplinary studies and the coordination of knowledge derived from research done by representatives of the separate disciplines of the behavioral sciences and accounting. Examples of behavioral research studies related to management fraud are discussed. Footnotes are provided.