Statistical Techniques for Forensic Accounting: Understanding the Theory and Application of Data Analysis

9. Sampling Theory and Techniques

Managers will take little buckets and row their boats over this ocean of facts, dipping the buckets here and there. By examining what they find in the buckets, they are able to draw firm conclusions not only about what is in the buckets, but also about the entire ocean.

—George S. Odiorne (1969)

9.1. Introduction

This opening quote, though poetic, is an accurate description of the sampling methodology and its general use in business decision making. In a financial context the auditor and forensic accountant do encounter an “ocean” of data and facts. As accountants might not be able to verify, attest to, or utilize all the information that is potentially available, they must selectively focus on only some of ...