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This article aims to focus on the impact of the current austerity measures on UK public sector anti-fraud and financial crime investigative resource capacity building initiative developed over the years to tackle fraud against the public purse.

The article draws on secondary sources of data and available literature on fraud and financial crime.

Fraud is a challenge in the UK public sector but the cut-back on anti-fraud and financial crime investigative resources, given the scale of public sector fraud, the growing emphasis on accountability and the time of austerity with public money more exposed to fraud is arguably a back-door/u-turn policy on zero-tolerance approach in tackling public sector fraud and financial crime. There is the potential of this encouraging more fraud and financial crime against the public sector in the long term if measures are not taken to devise strategies for enhancing anti-fraud and financial crime investigative resource capacity.

The research implication for this article is that it opens an avenue for future studies to examine post austerity strategies for strengthening public sector anti-fraud and financial crime investigative resource strategies to deal with emerging fraud threats to UK public sector.

This article acts as a reference guide for policymakers to reflect on the long-term adverse impact of the austerity on anti-fraud and financial crime investigative resource capacity and capability in tackling fraud public sector fraud.

The paper attempts to present an alternative lens to examining the scale of UK public sector fraud problem rather than relying on headline story of declining fraud in UK.

The purpose of this present study is to assess the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on fraud in listed firms' financial statements on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). In other words, this paper seeks to figure out whether IC and its components, namely, the efficiency of human capital (HC), structural capital (SC), relational capital (RC) and customer capital (CC).

The logistic regression model is used for analyzing the material of this study. Research hypotheses are also examined using a sample of 187 listed firms on the TSE during 2011–2018 by employing the logistic regression pattern based on synthetic data technique. Moreover, some robustness checks are also used to ensure the correctness of the obtained results.

The findings show a negative and significant relationship between IC and its components, including the efficiency of HC, SC, RC and CC, and fraud in financial statements. This means that by investing in the IC and its components, the amount of fraud in business firms' financial statements decreases.

Since few studies are carried out by existing literature, this paper is among the pioneer efforts assessing IC's potential impact on fraud commitment. The findings apply to policymakers to improve the clarity of the business atmosphere of Iran.

Purpose – This study investigates the nature, types, and methods of fraudulent financial reporting committed by Chinese listed companies with a view to understanding corporate behavior relating to management fraud in China. Such an understanding is important for preventing frauds and achieving better financial reporting compliance.

Design/Methodology/Approach – This study adopts a descriptive research approach using the data based on 182 punishment bulletins issued by the China Securities Regulatory Commission from 2002 to 2006. The study considers three categories of frauds (i.e., false income statements, false balance sheets, and insufficient or false disclosure) and uses these categories to describe and analyze the fraud cases.

Research findings/Insights – Based on the sample of 83 cases over the 5-year period from 2002 to 2006, this study finds that all the frauds in the sample involved the manipulation, alteration, and falsification of reported financial information. Fraud schemes often contained more than one technique to misstate financial statements, typically through overstating revenues and assets, and understating liabilities and expenses. Most of the sample companies committed several frauds simultaneously. This study also reveals that most of the frauds committed by Chinese listed companies lasted more than 2 years, with the longest being 9 years, and common intervals between the initial fraud year and the announcement year of punishment were more than 3 years, with the longest being 11 years.

Theoretical/Academic implications – This study provides an empirical analysis of fraudulent financial reporting cases committed by Chinese listed companies. These cases were rarely studied in the Western literature. This study contributes to the extant literature by providing an insight into management fraud in China. Research into fraudulent financial reporting in the largest developing economy is certainly of interest as prior research into this area is mostly based on developed economies.

Practitioner/Policy implications – The implications drawn from this study could be useful for a better understanding of the management behavior of companies in developing and transitional economies. This study has a potential to assist regulators and accounting professional bodies to set guidelines facilitating corporate compliance of regulated financial reporting.

This paper aims to study the explanatory power of demographics, financial behaviors and financial literacy on instances of consumer financial fraud (CFF) among Emirati households.

This study is based on a survey applied to the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) largest federal higher education institution. The authors analyzed the data using generalized linear models, specifically generalized regressions based on both the logit and the probit models. Independent sample tests were also applied to compare the different subgroups considered in this study.

The authors found that the CFF victims seem to be older with more years of post-secondary education and high monthly credit card balances. When analyzing the probability of Emirati students becoming CFF victims, the authors found that only age, instances of lack of monthly income to cover living costs, and average monthly credit card balance, all have significant and positive explanatory power on the probability of becoming a CFF victim. However, when analyzing the aggregate subsample of all Emirati respondents, only the credit card balance has a positive and significant relationship with such a probability.

The authors used a non-probability sampling method that produced some biases, including a gender bias and an age-related bias. These biases preclude us from making valid inferences and generalizations about the Emirati population.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous research article has studied CFF in the UAE, which constitutes this study’s original contribution.

This study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on fraud intention in financial reporting among Muslim accounting practitioners in the Malaysian banking institutions.

A questionnaire was used for a sample of 121 Muslim accounting practitioners who are participants in the financial reporting process of Malaysian banking institutions. The data are analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

The study found that attitude and subjective norms are positively significant in influencing fraud intention in financial reporting. In other words, the more the respondents were in favour of fraud and perceived that their referent groups would approve or support the behaviour, the stronger their intentions to commit fraud. On the other hand, the result for Islamic professional ethics is insignificant, which indicates that the Muslim accounting practitioners may not be significantly influenced by the Islamic code of professional ethics on their intention towards fraud in financial reporting.

The study adds to the scant literature investigating factors influencing Malaysian accounting practitioners’ intentions for fraud in financial reporting in the banking sector. The limitations include the use of scenario leading to the issue of social desirability bias and the use of purposive sampling technique that limits the generalizability of the results.

The findings provide potential avenues for Malaysian banking sector managers to enhance their recruitment and training programmes and give some insights to the public, especially the banks shareholders and depositors, into the fraud in financial reporting intention of the actual participants in the financial reporting process.

To the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to examine, in the Malaysian banking setting, the influence of attitude, subjective norms and adherence to Islamic professional ethics on the fraud intention in financial reporting among accounting practitioners. There are few investigations to date on the factors of influencing or mitigating the accounting practitioners’ intention to commit fraudulent reporting.

There is increasing international concern about the escalation of fraud and, in particular, financial statement fraud. Detecting financial statement fraud and proving such fraud remains an elusive goal. Red flagging is an early warning system that has been used by auditors to determine the probability of financial statement fraud. The purpose of this research project was to survey investors and lenders in South Africa on their use of red flags and to obtain their opinions on the relative importance of individual red flags. A questionnaire was sent to banks that are registered with the Registrar of Banks (representative of lenders) and to portfolio managers registered with the Financial Services Board (representative of investors). The research findings indicate that lenders and investors in South Africa appear to be aware of the benefits of red flagging as an early warning system. A structured approach (questionnaires/checklists) in using them is to be lacking at present. Respondents rated all red flags in the questionnaire as being important. No distinction was discernable among the different categories that were based on the nature of red flags.

The public trust in auditors’ judgments and reputation plays an important role in substantiating audit functions as value‐added services, which lend credibility to published financial reports. Recent numerous financial restatements by high profile companies coupled with bankruptcies of major companies caused by reported financial statement fraud have eroded public confidence in financial reports and related audit functions. Restoring the public confidence requires considerable efforts by legislators, regulators, standard‐setting bodies, the business community, and the accounting profession. This article suggests 12 ways that the accounting profession can rebuild public trust in financial reports and related audit functions.

The need for independent audit goes back to the agency theory, the theory of delegation of power and the issue of trust. Stakeholders delegate power to management to manage the business on their behalf, yet they face the risk of information asymmetry and management motivations to commit fraud. The main aim of having an independent auditor was therefore to reduce the risk of information asymmetry and fraudulent behaviour by management. Auditors are required by the International Auditing Standards to detect material fraud and error, and they are expected to have a duty of care for stakeholders. However, recently independent auditors, whether conducting private or public audit, have been scrutinised for failing to detect material fraud. There have been a lot of discussions in the literature about the role of private auditors in detecting fraud, but very little discussions about the role of public auditors in detecting fraud. This chapter will outline the difference between private audit and public audit; explain the legal liability of public auditors in relation to fraud detection; the role of public auditors in detecting fraud; and will critically review the root causes for auditors’ failure to detect fraud.

Accounting-based financial scandals caused by fraudulent financial reports negatively affect the financial markets and cause loss of confidence in investors. Financial reporting quality needs to be improved in order to build and maintain trust in financial markets. To increase the quality of financial reports, fraudulent financial reporting risks should be defined. At this point, regulators, practitioners, and researchers are in constant search.

There are improved approaches to the detection of financial reporting frauds in the literature. Many studies have been conducted on the “Fraud Triangle Theory” and the “Fraud Diamond Theory” approaches. The Fraud Triangle Theory argues that while fraudulent action is taking place in defining the elements of press, rationalization, and opportunity, the Fraud Diamond Theory approach argues that in order to achieve these three elements, the capability to carry out a fraud in individuals must be improved.

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of Fraud Diamond elements on fraudulent financial reports. For the scope of the research, data of 26 companies from Manufacturing Industry enterprises operating in BORSA ISTANBUL between 2013 and 2017 were used. Financial reports of the companies are divided into two groups: (1) Fraudulent Financial Reports and (2) Non-Fraud Financial Reports. The hypotheses developed within the scope of the research were tested using the Logistic Regression analysis in IBM SPSS Statistic 20 program.

As a result of the study, it has been determined that there is a negative correlation between borrowing level, asset profitability, independent audit firm, auditor exchanges and institutionalization level, and fraudulent financial reports. It was understood that the change in assets and the size of the audit committee did not have any effect on the fraudulent financial reports.

This study takes the position that the concept of fraud is socially constructed. Moreover, it asks why and how different understandings of fraud have emerged. Insights from the work of Lakoff and Johnson (1999, 2003; Lakoff, 2002, 2004, 2009) are used to analyze language revealing dominant worldviews and metaphors regarding fraud. The research method is a case study (Yin, 2014), and the analytical approach used parallels the one described in O’Dwyer (2004). The research setting is a report issued by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which provides a context to study different understandings of fraud due to the report’s divided nature. The analysis reveals three alternative worldviews, representing different assumptions about reality, that are at the root of the different understandings of fraud. These worldviews also lead to the usage of different conceptual metaphors which allow the commissioners to interpret facts in a manner that supports each worldview’s assumptions. The paper also concludes by providing a nuanced and critical examination of the results of the commission concerning its understanding of fraud.