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The purpose of this study is to examine the existing literature on the fraud triangle. The fraud triangle framework, popularized by Donald Cressey and W. Steve Albrecht, has been used to explain financial crimes since the 1940s. The theory includes that workplace financial crime and fraud occurs only when an offender has sufficient opportunity, pressure and rationalization to commit the crime. The fraud triangle has been empirically applied to the array of criminal behaviors and specific financial crimes and offenders internationally to determine if all three elements are necessary for the crimes to occur.

This systematic review summarized 33 empirical studies that have applied all three components of the fraud triangle to study financially criminal behavior committed by both corporations and individuals. The review included published and non-published papers and manuscripts from a variety of sources internationally.

Of the 33 studies included, 32 found support for at least one element of the fraud triangle and 27 found support for all three elements. Overall, these studies have shown that the fraud triangle has generally received support across different subjects, industries and countries.

This research only examined papers using the “fraud triangle” term.

This paper systematically reviewed different types of studies internationally, concluding that the fraud triangle is largely valid internationally as an explanation for financial crimes.

Fraud omnipresent in the media, the corporate world and the academic literature has attracted a great deal of research interest. Fraud and its various types and forms have been characterized as significant contributing factors to the development of severe financial crises. Recurrent financial crimes in both the private and the public sectors remind us that fraud and its negative consequences paralyze economic entities all over the world. Understanding the multidimensional nature of fraud is key to prevent and detect it. This paper aims to examine the dominant fraud triangle model framework and its variants developed in the accounting literature to provide the etiology of fraud.

Having identified the fraud theory developed so far, we provide a theoretical framework for international fraud triangle.

Understanding the multidimensional nature of fraud is key to prevent and detect it. This paper examines the dominant fraud triangle model framework and its variants developed in the accounting literature to provide the etiology of fraud. Drawing on theoretical insights and useful criticism of the fraud triangle, this paper proposes an international fraud triangle model framework to help auditors, managers, regulators and academics in understanding fraud holistically in the private and public sector in a global context. The authors finally provide an overview of fraud in the Greek Context.

This paper proposes an international fraud triangle model framework.

The fraud landscape talks about the existence of fraudulent activities and can be assessed with the help of fraud literature. Taking this into consideration, this paper qualitatively revisits the famous fraud triangle theory developed by Donald R. Cressey (1950) which is the most traditional theory to detect a fraud. This paper aims to discuss various fraud models that have been extensions to fraud triangle theory and reviews the factors that drive a corporate fraud. This study is divided into two phases. The first phases discuss the various theories which have been developed to detect and prevent corporate frauds in organisations, and in the second phase the authors recognize “integrity” as a new extension to the basic fraud theory. The integrity model has been introduced as “fraud square” contributing to the development of fraud theory. Integrity plays a very important role in detecting corporate frauds, and this paper will act as a theoretical benchmark for future references. The implication of this study would help future researchers, academicians and practitioners to understand the fourth element of the fraud theory and would help improve the professional standards of organisations and regulators.

This paper revisits the literature in detail and reviews the most acknowledged models to explain “why people commit frauds” – the fraud triangle, fraud scale, the fraud diamond, the ABC model, the MICE model and the SCORE model. The authors contend that the traditional models need to be modernized to acclimate to the current developments in the rapidly increasing fraud incidents, both in occurrence and seriousness. Additionally, this paper builds on theoretical background to generate new model so as to improve the understanding behind the major factors which lead to commitment of frauds.

The authors identify a major element – integrity – in the research. As per ACFE 2020, “There are more than 3.3 billion people in the global workforce, half of them takes illegal use of gains from the organisation and some are discipled with integrity who does not cause any harm to the organisation.” To prevent fraud, integrity plays a very important role in organisations (Bakri et al., 2017). It has been found that individuals with less integrity are basically specified to a greater level of mismanagement. The organisations that have worked with integrity will improve performance at work and will always promote the best employees to work with less supervision.

This paper develops the integrity model to contribute to the development of fraud theory by identifying the key factors that play a major role in whether fraud will actually occur and acting as a theoretical benchmark for all future reference.

Recent research has confirmed an underlying economic logic that connects each of the three vertices of the “fraud triangle” – a fundamental criminological model of factors driving occupational fraud. It is postulated that in the presence of economic motivation and opportunity (the first two vertices of the fraud triangle), the likelihood of an occupational fraud happening in an organization increases substantially if the overall organization culture is perceived as being slack toward fraud as it helps potential fraudsters in rationalizing their actions (rationalization being the third vertex of the fraud triangle). This paper aims to offer a viable approach for collecting and processing of data to identify and operationalize the key factors underlying employee perception of organization culture toward occupational frauds.

This paper reports and analyses the results of a pilot study conducted using a convenience sampling approach to identify and operationalize the key factors underlying employee perception of organization culture with respect to occupational frauds. Given a very small sample size, a numerical testing technique based on the binomial distribution has been applied to test for significance of the proportion of respondents who agree that a lenient organizational culture toward fraud can create a rationalization for fraud.

The null hypothesis assumed no difference in the population proportions between those who agree and those who disagree with the view that a lenient organizational culture toward fraud can create a rationalization for fraud. Based on the results of the numerical test, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative that the population proportion of those who agree with the stated view in fact exceeded the proportion of those who disagreed.

The obvious limitation is the very small size of the sample obtained because of an extremely low rate of response to the survey questionnaires. However, while of course a much bigger data set needs to be collected to develop a generalizable prediction model, the small sample was enough for the purpose of a pilot study.

This paper makes two distinct practical contributions. First, it posits a viable empirical research plan for identifying, collecting and processing the right data to identify and operationalize the key underlying factors that capture an employee’s perception of organizational culture toward fraud as a basis for rationalizing an act of fraud. Second, it demonstrates via a small-scale pilot study that a more broad-based survey can indeed prove to be extremely useful in collating the sort of data that is needed to develop a computational model for predicting the likelihood of occupational fraud in any organization.

This paper provides a viable framework which empirical researchers can follow to test some of the latest advances in the “fraud triangle” theory. It outlines a systematic and focused data collection method via a well-designed questionnaire that is effectively applicable to future surveys that are scaled up to collect data at a nationwide level.

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 paper aims to challenge some of the underlying concepts about causation of fraud and in doing so enriches knowledge and insight into the management of fraud.

This study is a part of fieldwork carried out in Indonesia.

Organisational fraud is an exceptional type of crime. Hence, the underlying antecedents and consequences of fraud in organisation are distinct from other crimes, especially violent crimes. The underlying logic in criminological and sociological theories and literature cannot fully explain the causal factors of fraud in the organisation. This leads to a theoretical discussion about the reconstruction of the fraud theory. Implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed in this study.

This study provides a new understanding of fraud and its antecedents and consequences. In doing so, it examines the long-standing debate in criminology and sociology about the theories concerning crime causation, as these areas provide the underlying logic of fraud theory.

This paper aims to elaborate on the theory of fraud by enhancing the existing theories behind the factors that force people to commit fraud.

The paper reviews the most commonly used and widely accepted models for explaining why people commit fraud – the fraud triangle, the fraud diamond, the fraud scale and the MICE model. The author argues that these models need to be updated to adapt to the current developments in the field and the ever-growing fraud incidents, both in frequency and severity, and builds on the theoretical background to create a new model so as to enhance the understanding behind the major factors which lead to the commitment of fraud.

The author identifies a major element – ego – which plays a crucial role in compelling people to commit fraud and concludes in the formation of the S.C.O.R.E. model, which is graphically depicted in the fraud pentagon. He goes further by adding the factor collusion to better apply in cases of white-collar crimes.

The paper develops the S.C.O.R.E. model to contribute to the development of fraud theory by identifying the key factors that play a major role in whether fraud will actually occur and acting as a theoretical benchmark for all future reference.

Although corporations exert considerable efforts to uphold ethical standards in their business operations, fraud instances persist as an enduring and formidable challenge within organisations, defying their utmost efforts. The presence of fraud poses a substantial and recurring threat to corporations, leading to significant financial losses on an annual basis. This emphasises the crucial need for a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to fraudulent activities and the intricate nature of fraud risk factors inherent in business operations. Therefore, this paper aims to enhance the efficacy of fraud detection and prevention measures through critical analysis and refinement of established fraud theories, drawing upon the existing literature on this subject matter.

This paper offers a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the existing literature, thoroughly reviewing prominent models that aim to elucidate the underlying motivations behind fraudulent behaviour. Moreover, drawing upon the existing theoretical foundation, this study conceptualises a model that enhances the understanding of the crucial factors contributing to fraudulent behaviour.

The study presents new theoretical insights concerning the role of personal integrity in fraudulent decision-making, presenting refined interventions that enhance comprehension of the underlying drivers of fraud occurrences and strategies for prevention. Furthermore, the study reveals a comprehensive three-part approach to improving organisational health through strengthening compliance mechanisms and cultivating an ethical-values-based culture.

The study introduces a novel conceptual framework, the personal ethic-based fraud motivation model, which offers a deeper understanding of the factors and conditions influencing individuals’ propensity to engage in fraudulent activities. Furthermore, this study presents a three Cs strategy that effectively delineates the influential forces that drive individuals to surmount fraud risks.

This study aims to explore the relationship between fraud triangle theory (FTT) and the accounting fraud phenomenon in all listed companies in China.

The CSMAR database is used as the sample, including 16,063 data of all listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen markets for the 2010–2020 period. The authors also use quantitative methods, such as regression analysis, to investigate the relationship between five variables (cover three elements of FTT) and fraud occurrence.

Results show that leverage and liquidity ratios positively affect fraud detection, whereas return on net equity, audit size and independent director percentage negatively affect fraud detection.

This study enriches theoretical research on the causes of accounting fraud in China and is of great significance to the sound development of China’s capital market.

A number of highly publicised scandals such as Enron, Lehman Brothers, Parmalat, Satyam, Toshiba and 1MDB (to name a few) have heightened the awareness of the effects of fraudulent financial reporting. While enormous measures have been taken to curb the fraudulent activities among large and small businesses, the issues are still alarming worldwide. Thus, this study aims to explore the extent to which the prevalence of fraud risk in state-controlled companies and to enhance understanding of the underlying reasons of the fraudulent activities.

As this study is a descriptive and exploratory in nature, an exploratory case study method was used in four state-controlled companies. Using the fraud triangle theory to underpin this study, the qualitative face-to-face interviews were carried out with top management of the companies.

The study reveals a high risk of fraud occurrence at state-controlled companies that involve dealing with various suppliers, governments, customers and shareholders, even when standard operating procedures and rules and regulation are in place. The apparent reason for this phenomenon is attributed to not only opportunities but also incentives and rationalisations in engaging fraudulent activities.

As there are relatively few qualitative studies conducted in this area specifically among Malaysian state-controlled companies, this study extends the fraud literature by examining risk exposure and reasons underlying the fraudulent activities. The findings demonstrate that to a certain extent, the fraud triangle theory explains the motivations behind the fraudulent activities. The finding from this study is relevant to regulators, investors, companies and academicians in understanding, preventing and combating fraud.