Usage And Perceptions Of Fraud Detection And Preventive Methods: Evidence From Mauritius

The aim of this study is to assess the extent to which junior auditors, senior auditors and professional accountants use fraud prevention and detection methods, and their opinions regarding the effectiveness of these methods in the Mauritian context. A questionnaire was designed and sent to ten most reputed companies including the Big 4 firms. 120 junior auditors, senior auditors and professional accountants responded successfully. The results shows that the techniques mostly adopted to combat fraud are bank reconciliation, staff rotation, cash reviews and password protection. However, virus protection, discovery sampling, reference checks on employees and vendor contract reviews were not often used. In contrast to other prior studies, methods which were frequently used on overall were the ones which have highest mean effectiveness ratings. This study sheds light on the least and most frequent fraud detection and prevention methods used in Mauritius by accounting practitioners. Organization should concentrate on creating an integrated strategy to combat and control any kind of potential risks instead of dealing with each issue separately. Also, organizations should weight up the significant intangible benefits against direct costs of combating fraud. Moreover, organizations should make sure that each abide to the policies and are well aware of the consequences of any malpractice. Finally, this study adds to the existing literature on perceptions of fraud detection methods. To the authors’ prior knowledge, this is the first formal study in the Mauritian context