CHAPTER 1F – Forgetting the Present and the Past
IN THIS CHAPTER, WE discuss the landscape of the global ethical environment, and then establish the professional standards that help address the dilemmas that arise out of fraud and misconduct. We compare financial statement audits and fraud investigation from the perspectives of auditors and fraud examiners.
FRAUD IN THE PRESENT AND PAST
I challenge you to grab a periodical. A newspaper (if you are still able to stomach the news). Scan it. How many articles mention fraud or misconduct? I would be willing to wager each issue has a few. I would also be willing to bet that each victim represented in the article strongly felt that “it could never happen to us.” We, as accountants and auditors, are not immune. We are lulled into a false sense of security, and feel that our clients or companies “are better than that.” This is very apparent in recent studies on the impact of fraud on small business. In fact, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners 2018 Report to the Nation showed that small organizations with less than 100 employees are mostly likely to suffer from occupational fraud (28% of cases) and suffered the largest median loss (USD 200,000).
It can happen to you. I know, because ...
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