The Effects of Forensic Accounting in Fraud Detection and Prevention

This research report delves into the critical role of forensic accounting in detecting and preventing fraud within organizations. The study, based on primary data collected through questionnaires, investigates the impact of forensic accounting practices on fraudulent activities. The report begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction, rationale, research objectives, and research questions. A comprehensive literature review explores the benefits of forensic accounting, fraud detection methods, and relevant forensic procedures. The methodology section outlines the data analysis techniques, and the results are presented in tables. The report concludes with findings, recommendations for future research, and a list of references. The study highlights the importance of forensic accounting in mitigating financial crimes and safeguarding organizational assets. The findings suggest that the application of forensic accounting significantly affects the extent of fraudulent activities within the organization.

RUNNING HEAD: FORENSIC ACCOUNTING 1
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this research paper is to determine the effects of forensic
accounting in detecting and preventing fraud in any organization. The key
requirement for this study to be successful was the data which was acquired from
primary sources. These first hand information were obtained using various
techniques. The main method used was well-structured questionnaire applied to
a number of organizations. The primary data which was collected were examined
keenly with descriptive statistics in aid of Chi-squire and linear regression. The
study divulges that the use of forensic accounting on organizations greatly affect
the extent of fraudulent activities.

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Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................
Rationale............................................................................................................................
Research Objectives..........................................................................................................
Research Questions...........................................................................................................
Literature Review..............................................................................................................
Benefits of forensic accounting.........................................................................................
Fraud Detection.................................................................................................................
1.Planning the investigation..............................................................................................
Forensic procedures...........................................................................................................
Data mining through use of computers.............................................................................
Reviewing other documents..............................................................................................
Conducting interviews.....................................................................................................10
Possible information on the subject matter.....................................................................10
Forensic Accounting and Fraud Detection......................................................................14
Methodology....................................................................................................................16
Analysis and interpretation of Data.................................................................................16
Table 1: Coefficients.......................................................................................................17
Table 2: The Anova.........................................................................................................18
Table 3: Model Summary................................................................................................19
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................19
Recommendation for Future Research............................................................................19
References.......................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
The continue accelerated demand for the accountants who have specialized in the field
of forensic is becoming common due to the increase in case of fraud. The reason for
the arising of forensic accounting is the impact of technical error due to man
incapability and fraud. Many organizations worldwide were not putting a lot of
concentration on the application of forensic accountants’ skills. Due to the increase in
the instances of fraud in the world, the companies have started to apply forensic
accounting to minimize the losses. Forensic accounting refers to application of
knowledge in accordance with financial matters and put in place a systematic inquiry
to ascertain the mentality of issues which have remained unsettled, performed in line
with the context of laws, rules and principles of evidence (Arokiasamy and Cristal,
2014).Bologna and Lindquist (2017) stated that forensic accounting composed of fraud
knowledge, sound knowledge, financial expertise and well understanding of how
business operates and the functionality of legal system. Forensic accounting is one of
the key ways of detecting accounting fraud effectively and minimizing them. This
field of forensic accounting is becoming the most popular in the world. There are
many institutions which provide this course such as; Crownways Institute in Kenya,
Maryville University and Franklin University in England among other prestigious
educational institutions.
Rationale
Williams (2012) indicated that forensic accounting has a certain form of expertise
knowledge and well equipped with special attributes which are identifiable. The key
features among others are neutrality and rationality. Accountants who specialized in
forensic are fully in possession of a specific social recognition, keen observation that
enable them to critically translate economic matters into symbolic form which are
trusted. Forensic accountants are endowed with symbolic capability where the issue of
translating fraud is becoming simpler and can be detected easily (Appah, 2012). The
accomplishment of legal mediation within cultural setup and economic claims lies
under the forensic accounting. In the late times of nineteen centuries, many
organizations experienced great tsunami in scandals, failures and fraud (Ball, 2013).
These events have greatly contributed to Huge Recession and substantially impacted
the free market to function effectively. Public accountants are the main facilitators of
these events (Enron and Arthur Andersen,2015). The occurrences of fraud, failures

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and scandals have brought about the decline in the level of loss of self-reliance in the
side of financial statements users in the aim of mitigating the problems which arises
on financial issues within the organizations which have catalyst the growth in need for
forensic accountants (Huber, 2012).
The financial statements prepared in an organization are always displays inadequate
information that the outsiders need in order to make informed decisions. There are
some companies which have involved in in cases like fraud. They are great
organizations which have greatly affected by issues of fraud until their internal control
structures have been made weak. The reason behind the fact that big companies are in
high chance of engaging in fraud is because it is easy for such organizations to access
data then manipulate the information, the details in the paper and those in the
computer to be alike. It relates bad in the part of human expectations of nature and the
level of management which operates in a strategic and well organized manner. The
perfect way of dealing absolutely against this matter is through provision of adequate
training to all staff members and public on the functionality and use of forensic
accounting in preventing fraud from occurring. This knowledge will help the public to
demand for information and services from the organizations they have invest in.
Accountants in the field of forensic have played a crucial and important duty in the
handling with legal disputes and litigation in the frauds that keeps on occurring. The
real fact is that less has been put down by different people on the fraud detection and
its prevention. The key aim of this study is to focus on related effects of forensic
accounting and how to detect.
Research Objectives.
The study of forensic accounting is a very crucial activity in any organization. This is
because for the firms to perform effectively and efficiency, there is need to minimize
instances of fraud. The major objective that brought about this study is observing and
analyze the effect of forensic in the field of accounting in line with detection of fraud.
The are some main objectives that were keenly researched on and give the specific
results of the study; they include: Investigate on fraud and finding out how forensic
accounting impact its detection, this is undertaking the research on various ways of
detecting fraud in the organization then suggesting ways of curbing with it to prevent
losses Forensic accountants have a role of reducing the bad effects of fraud by
detecting them early enough and advise the management to lay down strategies to

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deal with it. Ascertain if the study of forensic accounting has
ability of curbing fraudulent practices in the organization.
Research Questions
1. What are the benefits of forensic accounting?
2. How does forensic accounting detect fraud in an organization?
3. Can forensic accounting help to prevent fraud cases in an organization?
Literature Review
Benefits of forensic accounting.
The great personnel who developed forensic accounting in early nineteen centuries is
Maurice E. Peloubet.He developed this term based on his essay “Forensic
Accounting: is credited with developing the term forensic accounting in his 1946
essay “Forensic Accounting: The place for this is in the economy of today. In early
times, forensic accounting was incapable of proving its value during the end of World
War I; despite that fact that it had been developed, there were no formalized steps and
procedures which had been indicated till late 1980s when great academic studies were
carried down and published (Ramsey, 2009). Some countries in the Western part of
the world had developed forensic accounting where new specialization in the area of
accounting has emerged. Auditing as a similar field to accounting has also been
created. This accounting profession come up with crucial field which includes
auditing, investigative skills and accounting (Oulu and Pamukc, 2012).
Forensic accountants are important personnel in an organization who fully describes
the engagements which occurs due to expected or actual disputes .The term “forensic”
means that “it is suitable to be applied in court systems, ’and determines how forensic
accountants will have to work based on the potential outcomes and standards form the
court(Crumbly, Heitger and Smith, 2015).this field of forensic accounting has been
termed as professional expertise which has particular attributes; for one to be
recognized as specialized forensic accountant, he/she must own formal certificate
which gives symbolic value (Williams, 2012).

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Forensic help in financial criminal issues by providing information on accounting
nature. These will also assist in economic issues involving pending or still existing
cases in courts as that idea is inherited from Pamukc (2012).
Adeniji (2018) noted that one of the ways that aid in proper assessment of fraud is
through keen observation of the forensic as a subject to be understoodAdesola (2011)
indicated very clearly that analyzation of the books of financial statements will
display the key aims of forensic as the field of study in this paper. These evidences
that are made and prepared by accountants in forensic field are applied in several
contexts.
Based on the thoughts of Gray (2018), this forensic as a topic of study helps
accountants as they handle cases in legat set up; that is through provision of services
which includes suspicious insolvency valuations, examining of financial documents
attacked with fraud schemes and valuations of invoices which are not genuine (Baird
and Appah, 2012). This area of study provides analysis pertaining the way disputes
will be resolved in the courts. Moreover, it gives the court with details about the fraud
which was committed. This is the reason why there is reduction in accounting frauds
in businesses. The work of the forensic accountants is to provide account examination
in order to determine evidence that are necessary to settle a case before it is time to be
resolve in court of law or the lawyers make their decisions on that matter (Amie and
Howard, 2016).
The main function of accountants who specialized in forensic is to identify and
brought them into books then detect the instances that may bring about fraud in the
organizations. This is made possible through skip tracing the persons who involve in
money laundering, identification of thieves and those evading taxes. The companies
whose job is to insure organizations and people have hired forensic accountants to
help them detect fraud in insurance like arson, also law offices include forensic
accountants in their staff to help them identify assets of marital nature in cases of
divorce (Weygand, Kieso, and Kimmel, 2014).
Forensic accounting is one of the important field in agenda of the organization after
the problems of financial reporting that took place in various parts of the world. For
example, Tycon, WorldCom, Enron. These are the scandals that have resulted in loss
of trust within the public and lots of funds. These shows that there is high need for the
strengthening of internal control and developed infrastructure and accounting

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principles within the firm. This development accelerated the importance of forensic
specialist auditors Bhasin and Anyanwa (2017) elaborated that forensic is key area
that halt the occurrences of fraud case in the firm.
Fraud Detection
Fraud detection involves several steps which must be adhered to.
1.Planning the investigation
The investigation should be well established.
Forensic accounting requires the application of advanced skills which must be utilized
and this skill must be acquired from outside the organization. This is to achieve
objectivity.
Once the examiners have been identified and employed, the forensic accounting group
can commence setting up of the examination.
The group starts putting in place objectives that are to be achieved. Accountants will
have a critical look and define each goal in a different way. After they have obtained
all the evidence, they will after document their findings.
The document will be used to seek legal action against a person that has participated
in the fraud.
4. Handling legal process.
This is the culmination point in forensic audit as it seeks to seek justice in the court of
competent jurisdiction on the person or organization that has been found culpable.
The parties that are involved must be amongst the individuals who are in the court
proceedings so that they can give testimony with regard to the case.
The accountants who were responsible for the audit will give out various facts that they
have seen to the various group including the judges who are adjudicating the case.in
doing this, they must do it in the simple way that is understandable to the laymen and
the judges.
Forensic procedures.
In the ideas of Curtis (2018), identification of a fraudulent act, three ways are utilized
namely;

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 Data mining-utilization of computers
 Reviewing various written documents
 Use of interviews
Data mining through use of computers
This involves use of technology to check on the inconsistencies with regard to a
certain company and their financial resources.
This comprises of data that are computerized in various files with regard to various
suppliers or goods of a certain company.
The world has greatly shift from the past traditional use of papers in the filling of
various information to use of the technology in the processing and transaction of
various business. Mining of data therefore involves use of sophisticated software that
has been made or designed to identify abnormal trends.
Data mining still will aid in identification of the time when a certain transaction was
made and if such was manipulated in any way, the place of a certain file and if it has
been tampered with and the person if any, that has manipulated the data or the
location of such file.
Therefore, forensic accountants must be very skillful in the identification and
understanding of audit trails of the digital equipment’s since this can identify fraud.
For instance, if the accounting information is wrong, data mining will definitely point
out whether it has been wrong from the beginning due to typos error or whether they
were manipulated after. This is carried out in any computer machine used by the
organization such as networks, cameras etc.
Reviewing other documents
Data is not in a digital form all the times and therefore the accountants must acquire
other documents for review so as to identify fraud. This is a tedious process since it
involves accessing and keeping them safely which might end up in a legal proceeding.
For instance, accountants will not just obtain any document and utilize it to say a
fraud has been committed. They must ensure that everything has been adhered to.
Therefore, when this forensic accountant has been given a job to perform, they must
enter into a contract with the contracting party so that they can acquire the necessary
rights to carry out their duty.

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Review of documents involves check of copies after the issuance of the originals. This is
to see if they have been modified later. For instance, an employee might attempt to
change sales numbers and try to tamper with figures. Review will therefore try to curb
this problem.
Conducting interviews
This involves having the conversation one on one with the employees. This will help
the accountants to get additional information regarding to the organization. For
instance, having a chat with a supplier will help the accountant to get an additional
information regarding to the invoicing process that might point to the fraudulent
activity.
Again, having a conversation with various stakeholders can make them guilty and
disclose any form of fraud that they know for fear of further investigation. This will
help accountants to get good information.
Record of the interviews being made is a vital thing so that proof must be gotten.
Importance of the interview and how it points out to the possibility of any fraud;
Possible information on the subject matter.
If the person being interviewed has a chance to alter the information
Having an adequate knowledge of the methods utilized in running the company or
entity.
Forensic accountants must be very well skilled orators so that they can use these skills
to uncover frauds in an organization through interviews (Arokiasamy, 2017).
David (2015), indicated that fraud in simple way is the probability and not meaning
possibility. The best way of preventing fraud is through making decisions in a group
and not relying on individual personal view. However, some instances may result in
common interest by the group which will not be a great case. In this case, fraud may
not be fully prevented from happening in the organization there is usually a dominant
personnel who is in charge of the entire management and always make decisions
which abide to all other members. Russel (2018) remarks that fraud refers to
application of deceitful in several ways. Fraud usually assumes very many forms and

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degrees that courts are forced to use some few regulations which are general in nature
in their defeat and discovery. It is not necessary to define the term fraud because some
people may find themselves committing frauds that happens to be not included in the
definitions. Albrecht (2015) furthermore stated that fraud as a generic word accepts
all different meanings that human minds can think of. According to Anyanwu (2013),
fraud is that way of acting unlawfully and deliberately to achieve unfair advantage or
unlawful judgement. It also means knowing the accounting records that are falsely
made, such as cost of income and expenses incurred in the organization with an aim of
increasing the net income. These various instances of fraud are illegal and can result
in judgement of the organizations and individuals involved in lawsuits (Arokiasamy
and Cristal, 2011). Officials of the organizations engage in fraud in order to earn more
money from the stakeholders or reverse loss that had occurred.
Use of business resources in a personal manner and drawing financial statements
incorrectly. For instance: Money embezzlement during the time of collection but
before they are recorded in specific books of accounts, intentionally tampering with
the records of the financial institutions and falsely taking monetary advantage, forging
of accounts in order to achieve advantage in financial matters, scrap theft, wage
embezzlement, selling the assets of the organization below the market price. Agreeing
to (Oulu and Ball, 2014), the aim of every financial statements in fraud management
includes: improving the value of the any business, ensuring that the financial
statements remain consistent together with budgets, presenting the value of the
business falsely in order to acquire unfair income.
After analysis of the fraud, it is evident that three compositions come together at the
time of carrying out crime. The following are such components: opportunity, pressure
and justification. They form fraud triangle. These components are so similar to fuel,
oxygen and spark which must be available for fire to occur. When these components
combined, fire will automatically there will be outbreak of fire. Pressure as one of the
components of failures and fraud are gathered into a number of groups such as
financial consent pressure, bad habits pressures and job related pressures. The second
portion of the fraud triangle is opportunity factors. They affect owners of the
organization and top level management in particular. The most crucial factor arising
out of fraud is the provision of chance to commit any fraud. Fraudster’s development
of defense mechanisms. Fraudsters came up with various excuses and the efforts they

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put in to justify such are: (1) I decided to borrowed the funds, I am planning to pay
back soon. (2) This is for the benefits of my efforts that I put in for business activities.
(3) There is no person who has suffered any loss because of this (4) I have decided to
take funds in good will. For one to justify these excuses, there is need to elaborate
ethic principles to all staff, making them aware that fraud is bad and those involved
will be highly penalized, create code of moral within the organization then give them
proper training on all members.