• Selected
• Entire List

Abstract:
Fraud detection is usually done by looking for red flags and various other cues of deceit. Research in auditing and psychology has questioned the effectiveness of these methods. Here we summarize work on constructing a new cognitive approach to understanding both success and failure at detecting financial statement fraud (Johnson, Grazioli, Jamal and Berryman 2001; Johnson, Grazioli, Jamal and Zualkernan 1992). We begin by analyzing the information processing problem than an auditor must solve to detect the presence of deceptive financial information. We then describe a theory of the solution to this problem, i.e. a theory of successful fraud detection. The theory is used as a yardstick to evaluate the actual behavior of Big 4 firm audit partners engaged in the review of real cases of financial statement fraud. An analysis of the errors made by these auditors allows us to formulate and test hypotheses on where they succeed, where they fail, and the cognitive processes that underlie both success and failure.

Financial statement fraud detection, Cognitive processes, Deception detection, Errors

Abstract:
In this study, we address the question of what kinds of cognitive representations auditors use in a situation of potential financial statement fraud. We divide the problem of detecting fraud into two parts: detecting the frame management has constructed to mask the fraud, and detecting the fraud. We examine two ways proposed by Kahneman and Tversky (1986) for detecting a frame: (1) use of multiple representations that provide alternative interpretations of data in the financial statements; and (2) use of a procedure that transforms financial statement data into a standard representation.Twenty-four audit partners served as participants in the study. Each partner conducted a simulation of a concurring partner review. All auditors reviewed four cases in which management had created a misleading description of the company (a frame) and a financial statement fraud The results support Kahneman and Tversky's proposal that frames can be detected by transforming a problem into a standard representation. Auditors who used a standard representation successfully detected management's frame, aggregated the items, and detected fraud on all four cases. Auditors who used a standard representation followed a procedure specified by generally accepted auditing standards (HB: 5130, SAS 47) for aggregating items. Auditors who used multiple representations detected management's frame on all four cases. However, these auditors did not use the aggregation procedure specified by auditing standards and failed to detect the fraud on all four cases.