- What is occupational fraud?
Occupational fraud is essentially defined as taking advantage of an occupational situation to attain personal enrichment by intentionally misusing or misapplying an organization’s resources.
- What is the estimated annual cost of fraud in the United States?
Participants in an Associated of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) survey estimated that U.S. organizations lose 7% of their annual revenues to fraud. Applied to the projected 2008 U.S. Gross Domestic Product, this 7% figure translates to approximately $994 billion in fraud losses.
- What type of person is most likely to commit occupational fraud?
Employees are most likely to be the perpetrators (39.7%) which are closely followed by Managers (37.1%). Owners / Executives are the perpetrators in 23.3% of the cases.
- What are the basic categories of occupational fraud?
The three basic categories of occupational fraud are (1) fraudulent financial statements, (2) misappropriation of assets and (3) corruption (bribes, kickbacks).
- Which types of organizations are most likely to be victims of occupational fraud?
Small businesses are especially vulnerable to occupational fraud. The median loss suffered by organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $200,000.
- Why do people commit occupational fraud?
The most commonly cited behavioral red flags were perpetrators living beyond their apparent means or experiencing financial difficulties at the time of the frauds.
- Which fraud schemes are most often committed by accounting personal in an organization?
Check tampering followed by billing are the most common accounting related schemes.
- How are occupational frauds most often initially detected?
Occupational frauds are almost half the time detected by a “tip”.
- What is the best approach to protecting an organization’s assets from occupational fraud?
Organizations can protect their assets through identifying and correcting weaknesses in their internal control structures.
- What type of professional is best suited to assist organizations with fraud prevention and identification?
Forensic accountants are often called upon to assist organizations of all sizes and from a wide range of industries to help prevent fraud as well as identify fraudulent activity.
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