Benford’s Law and Digital Analysis: Application on Turkish Banking Sector

Abstract

We investigate the effectiveness of Benford’s Law through an digital analysis of the off-balance sheet account disclosures made by Turkish Banks during the 1990-2010. We found that off-balance sheet account disclosures of the fiscal term 1999 doesn’t comply with Benford’s Law. Our finding is consistent with the Turkish Banks’ practices. We also provide evidence on 'The Law of Anomalous Numbers'. Our results indicate a link between economic policy and deviation from frequencies of Benford’s Law.

Keywords: Benford’s law, digital analysis, banking sector, fraud investigation

JEL Classification: G21, M42