IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/manlab/v48y2023i3p418-443.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fraud Triangle as an Audit Tool

Author

Listed:
  • Namrata Sandhu
  • Shefali Saluja

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the usefulness of the fraud triangle in fraud detection and to make use of the results to critically examine the Indian Standard on Auditing that describes the responsibilities of auditors related to frauds (SA 240). Based on content analysis and quantitative assessment of publicly documented evidence in the form of press articles covering 19 emblematic Indian cases of fraud that went public between 1992 and 2018, this study establishes the validity of the fraud triangle and recommends that auditors evaluate potential frauds based on the components of the fraud triangle. The study also identifies fraud risk factors not covered in SA 240 and suggests that these risk factors be added to SA 240 to aid the fraud detection efforts of auditors. Further, the behavioural nature of the fraud risk factors missing from SA 240 suggests that the behaviour of prospective fraud perpetrators has not received due consideration in SA 240. The value of this study lies in its ability to demonstrate the usefulness of the fraud triangle as an audit tool and underscore the room for improvement in the Indian auditing standard related to frauds (SA 240).

Suggested Citation

  • Namrata Sandhu & Shefali Saluja, 2023. "Fraud Triangle as an Audit Tool," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 48(3), pages 418-443, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:manlab:v:48:y:2023:i:3:p:418-443
    DOI: 10.1177/0258042X231160970
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0258042X231160970
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0258042X231160970?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gregory S. Miller, 2006. "The Press as a Watchdog for Accounting Fraud," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1001-1033, December.
    2. Jeffrey Cohen & Yuan Ding & Cédric Lesage & Hervé Stolowy, 2010. "Corporate Fraud and Managers’ Behavior: Evidence from the Press," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 271-315, September.
    3. Núria Villaescusa & Oriol Amat, 2021. "When collusion meets the fraud triangle: a case study approach," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 805-815, July.
    4. Naman Desai, 2020. "Understanding the Theoretical Underpinnings of Corporate Fraud," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 45(1), pages 25-31, March.
    5. Jeffrey Cohen & Yuan Ding & Cédric Lesage & Hervé Stolowy, 2017. "Media Bias and the Persistence of the Expectation Gap: An Analysis of Press Articles on Corporate Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 637-659, September.
    6. Paul Andon & Clinton Free & Benjamin Scard, 2015. "Pathways to accountant fraud: Australian evidence and analysis," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(1), pages 10-44, July.
    7. Peter Tickner & Mark Button, 2021. "Deconstructing the origins of Cressey’s Fraud Triangle," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(3), pages 722-731, June.
    8. Afzal Izzaz Zahari & Jamaliah Said & Roshayani Arshad, 2020. "Organisational fraud: a discussion on the theoretical perspectives and dimensions," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(1), pages 283-293, January.
    9. Paul Andon & Clinton Free & Benjamin Scard, 2015. "Pathways to accountant fraud: Australian evidence and analysis," Accounting Research Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(1), pages 10-44, July.
    10. Georgios L. Vousinas, 2019. "Advancing theory of fraud: the S.C.O.R.E. model," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(1), pages 372-381, January.
    11. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    12. Namrata Sandhu, 2020. "Behavioural Red Flags of Fraud: An Ex Post Assessment of Types and Frequencies," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(2), pages 507-525, April.
    13. Clinton Free, 2015. "Looking through the fraud triangle: a review and call for new directions," Meditari Accountancy Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 175-196, August.
    14. Shabnam Fazli Aghghaleh & Zakiah Muhammaddun Mohamed, 2014. "Fraud Risk Factors of Fraud Triangle and the Likelihood of Fraud Occurrence: Evidence from Malaysia," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7.
    15. Freddie Choo & Kim Tan, 2007. "An “American Dream” theory of corporate executive Fraud," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 203-215, June.
    16. K. A. Van peursem & A. Hauriasi, 1999. "Auditors’ Reputation: an Analysis of Press Coverage in New Zealand," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 93-108, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monica Ramos Montesdeoca & Agustín J. Sánchez Medina & Felix Blázquez Santana, 2019. "Research Topics in Accounting Fraud in the 21st Century: A State of the Art," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-31, March.
    2. So-Jin Yu & Jin-Sung Rha, 2021. "Research Trends in Accounting Fraud Using Network Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-26, May.
    3. Jeffrey Cohen & Yuan Ding & Cédric Lesage & Hervé Stolowy, 2017. "Media Bias and the Persistence of the Expectation Gap: An Analysis of Press Articles on Corporate Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 637-659, September.
    4. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Hervé Stolowy & Yves Gendron & Jodie Moll & Luc Paugam, 2019. "Building the Legitimacy of Whistleblowers: A Multi‐Case Discourse Analysis," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 7-49, March.
    6. Roberto Tommasetti & Rodrigo de Oliveira Leite & Vinicius Mothé Maia & Marcelo Alvaro da Silva Macedo, 2021. "Revisiting the Accounting Fraud Components: A Bottom-Up Approach Using the Twitter Platform," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    7. Li, Xiaoqing & Qiao, Penghua & Zhao, Lin, 2019. "CEO media exposure, political connection and Chinese firms' stock price synchronicity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 61-75.
    8. Kai Wai Hui & Clive Lennox & Guochang Zhang, 2014. "The Market's Valuation of Fraudulently Reported Earnings," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5-6), pages 627-651, June.
    9. Andrew C. Call & Gerald S. Martin & Nathan Y. Sharp & Jaron H. Wilde, 2018. "Whistleblowers and Outcomes of Financial Misrepresentation Enforcement Actions," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 123-171, March.
    10. Badolato, Patrick G. & Donelson, Dain C. & Ege, Matthew, 2014. "Audit committee financial expertise and earnings management: The role of status," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 208-230.
    11. Xin Xu & Feng Xiong & Zhe An, 2023. "Using Machine Learning to Predict Corporate Fraud: Evidence Based on the GONE Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 137-158, August.
    12. Yang, Shuai & Wu, Chao, 2021. "Do Chinese managers listen to the media?: Evidence from mergers and acquisitions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Baloria, Vishal P. & Heese, Jonas, 2018. "The effects of media slant on firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 184-202.
    14. Anastasia A. Zakolyukina, 2018. "How Common Are Intentional GAAP Violations? Estimates from a Dynamic Model," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 5-44, March.
    15. Haiyan Jiang & Gary Tian & Donghua Zhou, 2021. "The influence of the deregulation of short‐selling on related‐party transactions: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 1022-1056, May.
    16. Liao, Rose & Wang, Xinjie & Wu, Ge, 2021. "The role of media in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2018. "The Role of Stakeholders in Corporate Governance: A View from Accounting Research," CEPR Discussion Papers 12775, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1093-1135, June.
    19. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Wang, He & Kwok, Chuck C.Y., 2016. "Family control and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-146.
    20. Siddiqui, Sayla & Shams, Syed, 2023. "Media coverage and patent trolls: A study on US high-tech firms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:manlab:v:48:y:2023:i:3:p:418-443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.xlri.ac.in/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.