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Due to the developments in information technologies, new concepts and practices have emerged in the field of accounting and auditing. One of these concepts is the concept of Forensic Accounting. Forensic accounting acts as a bridge between law and accounting sciences. Academic strutting about forensic accounting carried out in Turkey is increasing every day. In this study, we aim to examine the views of Turkish accounting academicians about skills of forensic accountant. Within this scope, we investigate whether there is any difference in views of Turkish accounting academicians by their gender, title, age, experience and university department (faculty, vocational school, etc.). Survey was sent to 543 Turkish accounting academicians via e-mail. 80 responses were used as data. Data analysis was made in SPSS Statistics 17.0. Means, standard deviations and percentages were computed for items related to skills of forensic accountant. Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to analyse whether there was any difference in views of Turkish accounting academicians by their gender, title, age, experience and university department. According to findings, the skills rated as most important by Turkish academicians are, respectively, deductive analysis, critical thinking and unstructured problem solving. The skills rated as least important by Turkish academicians are, respectively, oral communication, investigative flexibility and analytical proficiency. There is a significant difference in rating of the importance of critical thinking, investigative flexibility, analytical proficiency and written communication by gender and there is a significant difference in rating of the importance of deductive analysis, unstructured problem solving and composure by experience year as academician.

The change of production methods, the industrial revolutions, technological developments, and digital transformation have affected almost all functions in the enterprises. Accounting and auditing areas are also quite affected by this transformation. Another important result of technology and digitalization is the rapid increase in errors, frauds, and irregularities. Enterprises are looking for new solutions and investigations against irregularities and frauds. Audits for errors, frauds, or irregularities are among the interests of forensic accounting. Many methods are used to identify errors and frauds in the forensic accounting. However, it is inevitable that digital technologies should be utilized in forensic accounting applications as a result of the rapid spread of automation and computer programs in enterprises within the framework of digitalized business activities. Hence, enterprises will be able to get more effective results through computer programs and artificial intelligence in terms of fraud audit in forensic accounting. Expert system applications use artificial intelligence to enable computer programs to behave just like people. One of the most widely used, most easily applicable, and most understandable types of expert system is rule-based expert system. The aim of this study is to determine the accounting fraud that may occur in enterprises within the framework of forensic accounting through rule-based expert systems. For this purpose, various applications have been implemented in a large-scale production enterprise through the use of rule-based expert systems for the determination of accounting fraud. Benford’s Law, risk levels, and various other criteria were used in the creation of expert systems. According to the results obtained from the study, it has been seen that by means of rule-based expert system applications, enterprises can better detect existing frauds and prevent further irregularities in the future. The study is important and it is expected that the study will contribute to the literature because it is shown in the study that the rule-based expert systems, applied in many fields under the title of social sciences, can also be applied in the field of forensic accounting and auditing.

Along with accounting scandals in the past, academics, researchers, and legislators have focused on fraud. The purpose of this study is to examine postgraduate and doctoral studies, articles, and books about forensic accounting and fraud audit published between the years 2008 and 2018 in Turkey. For this purpose, a total of 96 studies have been examined and 35 of these are master’s theses, 10 of them are PhD theses, 45 of them are articles, and six of them are books. These studies were presented in tables as classified. The studies examined in our research are summarized as year they were published, the author, and the scope of the topic and in terms of results. The conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows: (a) the majority of thesis published about forensic accounting and fraud audit are in 2011 and following years. In addition, most of the theses are focused on forensic accounting review rather than fraud audit. (b) Results in the articles reviewed are in the same direction with theses. (c) There are very few books about fraud audit and forensic accounting. One of them is related to fraud audit, while the rest of them are related to forensic accounting and forensic accounting profession. We suggest extending the scope of the study and making to other countries.

Accounting and audit scandals, economic disputes, and the use of non-fraudulent financial statements during early 2000s have led to the emergence of the profession “Forensic Accounting” in many countries and its day-by-day increasing importance. At the present time, it is seen that since the acceptance of the fact that this profession is a quite important need, the education of forensic accounting is provided in undergraduate and graduate programs in the USA and Europe as a separate field of study. By this way, the aim of our study is to determine the perceptions and awareness, of the members of the profession and the accounting department students who have the potential to make this profession in the future, about the importance of the forensic accounting education and practices. In our research, we conducted a survey study with the members of the profession and the students of accounting department on the topic of forensic accounting education. The results show that the demand and interest in the forensic accounting profession will increase in the future. At this point, accountants and students emphasize that it would be very important for educational institutions to support students about professional career opportunities for forensic accounting. The results also show that there are some important differences of opinion among students and accountants about the current scope of forensic accounting.

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.

The purpose of the financial statements is to present the situations of the enterprises, such as the financial situation, results of operations, etc., in the decision-making processes to the related parties in a suitable, comparable, and realistic manner. In recent years, professional frauds in enterprises have been seriously reflected in financial statements and this has resulted in the manipulation of financial information.

In this study, we aim to determine financial firms, which might manipulate the financial information, by applying the Beneish model and then determine the financial indicators of possible financial statement manipulation, using logistic regression. For this purpose, companies included constantly in Borsa İstanbul-50 (BIST-50) 2015, 2016, and 2017 were examined. After the enterprises which have the possibility of financial manipulation are determined by the Beneish model, it is understood that there is a positive relationship between the probability of manipulating financial information and the Asset Quality Index and Sales, general and administrative expenses index.

Together with the globalization, the markets throughout the world entered into an intense competition and it led the companies in capital markets into a panic. During the competition for being at the top, the companies may sometimes have recourse to various frauds, corruption, or manipulations. The advancing technology is the most useful instrument of companies for this purpose. Countering these frauds and corruptions, which are gradually becoming more complex, is the profession of “auditing” which entered into an institutionalization and professionalization process. One of the most important milestones in this process is the emergence of the forensic accounting profession. The forensic accounting services, especially in the USA and Canada, provide courts and lawyers with support by making use of accounting, auditing, and analytical investigations on legal issues involving financial disputes. The forensic accountants offer service to relevant persons and institutions in order to determine the frauds made by the companies and support the lawsuits.

The objective of the present study is to provide information about the forensic accounting profession and its development in the world, as well as contributing to the development and recognition of forensic accounting practices.

Financial manipulation means the modification made knowingly and willfully by businesses in accounting records and transactions, in financial statements, through addition and subtraction, for the purpose of misleading financial information users. Financial manipulations are expected to have an effect on the decisions of financial information users. The present study was established on the basis of two main objectives. The first objective is to determine whether banks, which are Public Interest Entities (PIE), manipulate their financial statements. As for the second objective, it is to reveal whether the detected financial manipulations have an effect on investor decisions. The research conducted to achieve the first objective is based on the examination of independent audit reports for the periods between 2009 and 2017, pertaining to 45 banks registered to the Banks Association of Turkey, in terms of presented opinions. Data acquired from examined reports were subjected to content analysis via the Microsoft Excel program. In line with the second objective of the study, investor numbers for the periods between 2010 and 2017, of 13 banks, which are within the scope of BIST BANK, were included in the analysis, according to data acquired from the Central Registry Agency. Financial statements of banks, with audit reports in which a qualified opinion is expressed, were considered to have been manipulated. SPSS 22.0 statistics pack software was used to analyze whether investment demands toward these banks had an effect on decisions of domestic and foreign investors. In the analysis, frequency and One-Way ANOVA tests were used. In consequence of the analyses conducted, it was determined that, around one fifth of financial statements of PIE banks, pertaining to the periods between 2009 and 2017, were manipulated; it was mostly committed by private banks, and majority of the manipulations were committed due to free provisions made. It was also observed that manipulations did not have an effect on decisions of neither domestic nor foreign investors. The reason behind the latter is the fact that while the level of manipulations in financial statements is significant, it is not a widespread occurrence.

The objective of this paper is to find out and compare perceptions of the audit profession by jurors with those of auditors themselves in the small island‐state of Malta.

The objective is achieved by considering auditor responsibility, the reliability of audited financial statements and the decision usefulness of audited financial statements. A mail questionnaire was responded to by 56 auditors and 18 jurors, with the latter response being complemented by a further 100 jurors responding to the questionnaire when delivered by hand.

The study finds substantial divergences in the perceptions of the two respondent groups, particularly in the areas of fraud detection, responsibility for the internal control structure of a company, maintenance of accounting records, and actual work performed by an auditor. In addition, a particular trend in Malta is the high regard with which both respondent groups held the audit profession.

Limitations included the size of the sample of potential jurors taken when compared with the actual potential juror population of Malta, and the original low mail response rate from the jurors group.

Given the increase in recent years of the number of litigation cases against auditors and the particular need for the profession to restore public confidence in it, it is imperative for auditors to become more aware of how public perceptions differ from theirs.