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Financial Statement Fraud: Some Lessons from US and European Case Studies

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  • NIAMH M. BRENNAN
  • MARY McGRATH

Abstract

This paper studies 14 companies which were subject to an official investigation arising from the publication of fraudulent financial statements. The research found senior management to be responsible for most fraud. Recording false sales was the most common method of financial statement fraud. Meeting external forecasts emerged as the primary motivation. Management discovered most fraud, although the discovery was split between incumbent and new management.
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  • NIAMH M. BRENNAN & MARY McGRATH, 2007. "Financial Statement Fraud: Some Lessons from US and European Case Studies," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 17(42), pages 49-61, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:17:y:2007:i:42:p:49-61
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1835-2561.2007.tb00443.x
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    1. 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.
    2. Daniella Juric & Brendan O’Connell & Michaela Rankin & Jacqueline Birt, 2018. "Determinants of the Severity of Legal and Employment Consequences for CPAs Named in SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 545-563, February.
    3. Jeanette Akkeren & Sherrena Buckby, 2017. "Perceptions on the Causes of Individual and Fraudulent Co-offending: Views of Forensic Accountants," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 383-404, December.
    4. Cheng-Wen Lee & Mao-Wen Fu & Chin-Chuan Wang & Muh. Irfandy Azis, 2025. "Evaluating Machine Learning Algorithms for Financial Fraud Detection: Insights from Indonesia," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-35, February.
    5. Zita Drábková, 2015. "Analysis of Possibilities of Detectnig the Manipulation of Financial Statements in Terms of the IFRS and Czech Accounting Standards," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 63(6), pages 1859-1866.
    6. Muhammed Lawal Subair & Ramat Titlayo Salman & Ayodeji Fatai Abolarin & Abdulrasheed Taiwo Abdullahi & Akeem Sisofa Othman, 2020. "Board Characteristics And The Likelihood Of Financial Statement Fraud," Copernican Journal of Finance & Accounting, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 9(1), pages 57-76.
    7. Zita Drábková, 2013. "The potential to reduce the risk of manipulation of financial statements using the identification models of creative accounting," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 61(7), pages 2055-2063.
    8. Abdullah Albizri & Deniz Appelbaum & Nicholas Rizzotto, 2019. "Evaluation of financial statements fraud detection research: a multi-disciplinary analysis," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(4), pages 206-241, December.
    9. Christopher J. Napier, 2017. "The Good Fraud: Accounting, Finance and Banking in a 1930s English Novel," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(2), pages 43-70.
    10. Deepa Mangala & Pooja Kumari, 2017. "Auditors’ Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Fraud Prevention and Detection Methods," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 10(2), pages 118-142, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Mark E. Lokanan & Prerna Sharma, 2023. "Two Decades of Accounting Fraud Research: The Missing Meso-Level Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    13. Dellaportas, Steven, 2013. "Conversations with inmate accountants: Motivation, opportunity and the fraud triangle," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 29-39.
    14. Rehman Ali & Hashim Fathyah, 2020. "Impact of Fraud Risk Assessment on Good Corporate Governance: Case of Public Listed Companies in Oman," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 16-30, March.

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