The Role of Personal Integrity in Fraud and Fraud Investigation

This essay delves into the crucial role of personal integrity in the context of fraud and its investigation, drawing on the author's personal experience of maintaining 100% honesty for three days. It explores how ingrained habits of dishonesty, often stemming from a desire for personal gain or to av...Read More

Running head: THE ROLE OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY IN FRAUD AND FRAUD
INVESTIGATION
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The Role of Personal Integrity in Fraud and Fraud Investigation
Name
Institution

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In forensic accounting, fraud is criminal deception intended to secure unfair financial or personal
gain (West, 2014). Human beings have gotten into the habit of lying their way through things for
personal gain, especially to get out of trouble. Deception has become a social norm and part of our
everyday life, mainly to maintain a positive self concept and for material gain (Wiltermuth, Newman &
Raj, 2015). This dishonesty may eventually lead people to forget about rules intended to govern
behavior and protect the interests of others around us. According to Kang (2016), integrity involves the
consistency of upright character and actions regardless of the situation and environment.
My experience during the three days of upholding a hundred percent honesty proved to be
quite a challenge. Having gotten used to the social norm of telling little lies throughout the day, it was an
uphill task to be truthful while interacting with friends. For instance, I found myself having to explain
why I was late for my morning class. Simply saying the alarm didn’t go off would have answered the
question but that would have been a lie. However, the choice to be honest and explain that chatting on
social media was the real reason, lifted the burden of having to lie. Furthermore, by being honest about
how my day was going or how I was feeling when asked by friends, we were able to honestly
communicate and build trust. On the other hand, there were moments I slipped and told a little lie,
more often than not, for putting my interests first. In such situations, I made a choice to apologize for
the dishonesty thereby upholding integrity.
During the three days, it was evident that being honest or dishonest is a matter of personal
choice. Furthermore, it is possible to maintain integrity at all times despite the situation while
maintaining sufficient personal belief and self confidence (Albrecht, 2016). Equally important was the
realization that it is more rewarding, for self and for those around us to be honest (Wiltermuth,
Newman & Raj, 2015). Normally, with dishonesty, the burden of the lies we tell hovers around us, as
does the fear of being found out thus reducing our productivity. More often than not, our acts and

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words of dishonesty affect those around us as well as our relationships with them, especially when
others find out we have been dishonest.
In most cases of fraud investigation, the offender learns the behavior over a period of time.
After getting away with telling little lies, dishonesty becomes enshrined in one’s mind and eventually
becomes a personal trait of the individual. In addition, people get into the habit of lying for material
gain and to save faces eventually making this a part of their daily lives and interactions with others.
Dishonesty is seen as the easy way out and may eventually lead to criminal activities such as breach of
contract, stealing and embezzlement, money laundering, corruption and bribery, tax evasion among
others. These are some of the top cases forensic accountants have to investigate.
With these new insights, it is vital to adopt a lifestyle of personal integrity and honesty. By
practicing honestly even in the seemingly unimportant areas of our lives, we learn the habit of being
honest, which eventually becomes a character trait. According to Khan (2016), it is extremely difficult to
be 100% honest all the time. Given this, recognizing our shortcomings and apologizing for our
dishonesty is important is the quest to maintain personal integrity. Actively and openly engaging others
around us in being honest is also important to grow our very own integrity as well as that of those
around us (Ashkenas, 2011). By enrolling others on the same journey, we are able to spread the network
consequently establishing a society that believes in doing what is right at all times despite the negative
consequences we may face (Bakri, Mohamed & Said, 2017).
In conclusion, our personal character traits play a vital role in the choices we make as to what is
right and wrong as well as to what to do and not to do. These traits are born out of every day habits that
we grow and eventually deem as acceptable or unacceptable. By nurturing honesty with ourselves and
others on a daily basis, we develop personal integrity thereby enabling us to choose to do the right

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thing. Eventually, there will be a society empowered to not engage in fraudulent activities, but to do
what is right even when no one is watching, thereby reducing fraud.

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References
Albrecht, W. (2016). Lack of integrity burdens society and opens portals to fraud.
Ashkenas, R. (2011). Why Integrity Is Never Easy.
Bakri, H., Mohamed, N., & Said, J. (2017). Mitigating asset misappropriation through integrity and fraud
risk elements: Evidence emerging economies. Financial Crime.
Kang, S. (2016). The True Meaning of Integrity.
West, G. (2014). That Pesky Little Thing Called Fraud (p. 7).
Wiltermuth, S., Newman, D., & Raj, M. (2015). The Consequences of Dishonesty. Society For Personality
And Social Psychology.