IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v93y2025ics0927538x25001672.html

Artificial intelligence and financial fraud

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Guanglin
  • Ling, Zhencheng
  • Li, Yanru
  • Xie, Chang

Abstract

Corporate financial fraud significantly undermines stakeholder interests, weakens market resource allocation, and negatively impacts the healthy development of capital markets. This research leverages data from Chinese A-share listed companies (2013−2023), integrating machine learning techniques and text analysis to construct a firm-level artificial intelligence (AI) metric. Results indicate that advancements in AI technology significantly reduce both the likelihood and severity of financial fraud. This mitigating effect is especially pronounced in firms with separated chairman and CEO roles, those audited by non-Big Four firms, and larger enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that AI mitigates financial fraud mainly through enhanced information transparency and strengthened internal control systems. This study provides novel insights for policy-making and corporate practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Guanglin & Ling, Zhencheng & Li, Yanru & Xie, Chang, 2025. "Artificial intelligence and financial fraud," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927538x25001672
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102830
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X25001672
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102830?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wensheng Kang & Jing Wang, 2021. "Corporate tax effects of economic policy uncertainty," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2577-2600, April.
    2. Tian, Junmin & Sun, Hui, 2023. "Corporate financialization, internal control and financial fraud," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    3. Tao Kong & RenJi Sun & Guanglin Sun & Youtao Song, 2022. "Effects of Digital Finance on Green Innovation considering Information Asymmetry: An Empirical Study Based on Chinese Listed Firms," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(15), pages 4399-4411, December.
    4. Sun, Guanglin & Yin, Ding & Kong, Tao & Yin, Lei, 2024. "The impact of the integration of the digital economy and the real economy on the risk of stock price collapse," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Yang Bao & Bin Ke & Bin Li & Y. Julia Yu & Jie Zhang, 2020. "Detecting Accounting Fraud in Publicly Traded U.S. Firms Using a Machine Learning Approach," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 58(1), pages 199-235, March.
    6. Li, Quan & Chen, Huimin & Chen, Yang & Xiao, Tong & Wang, Li, 2023. "Digital economy, financing constraints, and corporate innovation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. repec:eme:maj000:maj-09-2016-1452 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Zhao, Yunhai & Liu, Rui & Xue, Junyi & Wu, Qihe & Zhang, Xiaohua, 2024. "Environmental protection tax law and corporate financial fraud: Evidence from listed firms in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    9. Sun, Guanglin & Fang, Jiming & Li, Jinning & Wang, Xiaolin, 2024. "Research on the impact of the integration of digital economy and real economy on enterprise green innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Adrian Gepp & Martina K. Linnenluecke & Terrence J. O’Neill & Tom Smith, 2018. "Big data techniques in auditing research and practice: Current trends and future opportunities," Journal of Accounting Literature, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(1), pages 102-115, February.
    11. Yin, Lei & Sun, Guanglin & Kong, Tao, 2025. "Regional big data development and corporate financial fraud," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    12. Melanie Arntz & Terry Gregory & Ulrich Zierahn, 2016. "The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 189, OECD Publishing.
    13. Marco Caiffa & Vincenzo Farina & Lucrezia Fattobene, 2021. "CEO Duality: Newspapers and Stock Market Reactions," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Guan, Jialin & Xu, Huijuan & Huo, Da & Hua, Yechun & Wang, Yunfeng, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Broadstock, David & Chen, Xiaoqi, 2021. "Corporate site visits, private monitoring and fraud: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    16. Wei Shi & Brian L. Connelly & Robert E. Hoskisson, 2017. "External corporate governance and financial fraud: cognitive evaluation theory insights on agency theory prescriptions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 1268-1286, June.
    17. Chang, Lei & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Mohsin, Muhammad, 2023. "Role of artificial intelligence on green economic development: Joint determinates of natural resources and green total factor productivity," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Zhang, Zejun & Wang, Zhao & Cai, Lixin, 2025. "Predicting financial fraud in Chinese listed companies: An enterprise portrait and machine learning approach," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Haefner, Naomi & Wincent, Joakim & Parida, Vinit & Gassmann, Oliver, 2021. "Artificial intelligence and innovation management: A review, framework, and research agenda✰," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    20. Jian Zhang, 2018. "Public Governance and Corporate Fraud: Evidence from the Recent Anti-corruption Campaign in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 375-396, March.
    21. Anastassia Fedyk & James Hodson & Natalya Khimich & Tatiana Fedyk, 2022. "Is artificial intelligence improving the audit process?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 938-985, September.
    22. Fan, Xiamin & Wu, Yuhui & Zhou, Yucheng & Wu, Shinong, 2025. "How does artificial intelligence shock affect labor income distribution? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    23. Cao, Sean Shun & Jiang, Wei & Lei, Lijun (Gillian) & Zhou, Qing (Clara), 2024. "Applied AI for finance and accounting: Alternative data and opportunities," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    24. Riaqa Mubeen & Dongping Han & Jaffar Abbas & Iftikhar Hussain, 2020. "The Effects of Market Competition, Capital Structure, and CEO Duality on Firm Performance: A Mediation Analysis by Incorporating the GMM Model Technique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.
    25. Appelbaum, Deniz & Kogan, Alexander & Vasarhelyi, Miklos & Yan, Zhaokai, 2017. "Impact of business analytics and enterprise systems on managerial accounting," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 29-44.
    26. Ben Lu & Hengchang Jing, 2022. "Analysis on Innovation Path of Business Administration Based on Artificial Intelligence," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2022, pages 1-7, September.
    27. Zingales, Luigi, 1994. "The Value of the Voting Right: A Study of the Milan Stock Exchange Experience," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(1), pages 125-148.
    28. Fich, Eliezer M. & Shivdasani, Anil, 2007. "Financial fraud, director reputation, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 306-336, November.
    29. Faff, Robert & Prasadh, Shyaam & Shams, Syed, 2019. "Merger and acquisition research in the Asia-Pacific region: A review of the evidence and future directions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 267-278.
    30. Vitali, Sonia & Giuliani, Marco, 2024. "Emerging digital technologies and auditing firms: Opportunities and challenges," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    31. Frey, Carl Benedikt & Osborne, Michael A., 2017. "The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 254-280.
    32. repec:eme:jal000:j.acclit.2017.05.003 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Shen, Huayu & Hou, Fei & Peng, Miaowei & Xiong, Hao & Zuo, Haohao, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    34. Jaewoo Kim & Seyoung Park & Kyle Peterson & Ryan Wilson, 2022. "Not Ready for Prime Time: Financial Reporting Quality After SPAC Mergers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 7054-7064, September.
    35. Ameen Ali Bin Afif & Zuaini Ishak & Norfaiezah Sawandi, 2024. "The moderating role of organizational sub-sectors on the relationship between CEO duality and nonprofit performance," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 21(4), pages 943-962, December.
    36. Iain M. Cockburn & Rebecca Henderson & Scott Stern, 2018. "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation," NBER Working Papers 24449, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Hou, Xiaohui & Wang, Tengyu & Ma, Caoyuan, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate fraud," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 97-110.
    38. Fadi Shehab Shiyyab & Abdallah Bader Alzoubi & Qais Mohammad Obidat & Hashem Alshurafat, 2023. "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Disclosure on Financial Performance," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-25, September.
    39. Huayu Shen & Man Zhang & Runxin Liu & Fei Hou, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Innovation - Evidence From China," Asian Economics Letters, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(1), pages 1-7.
    40. Giacomo Damioli & Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy, 2021. "The impact of artificial intelligence on labor productivity," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, March.
    41. Zhou, Zhongsheng & Li, Zhuo, 2023. "Corporate digital transformation and trade credit financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    42. Kee‐Hong Bae & Jun‐Koo Kang & Jin‐Mo Kim, 2002. "Tunneling or Value Added? Evidence from Mergers by Korean Business Groups," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2695-2740, December.
    43. XuJing Bai & JiaJun Li, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: The best configuration of collaborative knowledge innovation management from the perspective of artificial intelligence," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(6), pages 1-1, November.
    44. Ryan Krause & Matthew Semadeni & Michael C. Withers, 2016. "That special someone: When the board views its chair as a resource," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9), pages 1990-2002, September.
    45. Feng Han & Xin Mao, 2024. "Artificial intelligence empowers enterprise innovation: evidence from China’s industrial enterprises," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(57), pages 7971-7986, December.
    46. Stephen G. Dimmock & William C. Gerken & Nathaniel P. Graham, 2018. "Is Fraud Contagious? Coworker Influence on Misconduct by Financial Advisors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(3), pages 1417-1450, June.
    47. Wu, Fang & Cao, June & Zhang, Xiaosan, 2023. "Do non-executive employees matter in curbing corporate financial fraud?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    48. Iain M. Cockburn & Rebecca Henderson & Scott Stern, 2018. "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation: An Exploratory Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda, pages 115-146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    49. Frank Kabuye & Stephen Korutaro Nkundabanyanga & Julius Opiso & Zulaika Nakabuye, 2017. "Internal audit organisational status, competencies, activities and fraud management in the financial services sector," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(9), pages 924-944, October.
    50. Sun, Guanglin & Li, Ting & Ai, Yongfang & Li, Qinghai, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate financial fraud," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    51. Jiang, Hui & Peng, Cheng & Ren, Daling, 2024. "Supply-chain finance digitalization and corporate financial fraud: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    52. Kimberly D. Westermann & Jeffrey Cohen & Greg Trompeter, 2019. "PCAOB Inspections: Public Accounting Firms on “Trial”," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(2), pages 694-731, June.
    53. Yang, Siying & Liu, Fengshuo, 2024. "Impact of industrial intelligence on green total factor productivity: The indispensability of the environmental system," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cui Tiening & Liu Mengyun, 2026. "Research on Low-Carbon Development Pathways for Modern Manufacturing in the Capital of China," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 16(1), pages 1-1.
    2. Lee Bih Ni & Connie Shin@Cassy Ompok & Nur Farha Binti Shaafi & Arzizul Bin Antin, 2026. "The Use of AI in History Education in Sabah: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Schools," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(1), pages 1703-1712, January.
    3. Fakhreddin Fakhrai Rad & Pejvak Oghazi & İzmir Onur & Arash Kordestani, 2025. "Adoption of AI-based order picking in warehouse: benefits, challenges, and critical success factors," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(11), pages 3495-3540, November.
    4. Lee Bih Ni & Connie Shin@Cassy Ompok & Nur Farha Binti Shaafi & Arzizul Bin Antin, 2026. "The Use of AI in History Education in Sabah: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Schools," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(1), pages 479-488, January.

    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. Yin, Lei & Sun, Guanglin & Kong, Tao, 2025. "Regional big data development and corporate financial fraud," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Yu, Wei & Yan, Yueyun & Zhu, Keying & Zhang, Peijue, 2024. "Can value-added tax refund policy inhibit corporate financial fraud? Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Qi, Yu & Su, Hang, 2025. "Can artificial intelligence mitigate corporate fraud? Exploring the influence of institutional cross-holdings and financial misallocation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    4. Chen Wang & Jack Strauss & Lei Zheng, 2021. "High-Speed Railway Opening and Corporate Fraud," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Sun, Guanglin & Yan, Zian & Gong, Zejun & Li, Mengding, 2025. "The impact of ESG rating divergence on stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Lei, Hao & Gao, Renyuan & Ning, Chutong & Sun, Guanglin, 2025. "Green finance and corporate green innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Huang, Xiaodong & Zhao, Jiayi & Hu, Boqiang & Zhu, Chenzhi, 2025. "Analysis of changes in corporate external guarantee behavior and the role of governance factors under economic policy uncertainty," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Zhang, Bingye & Zhao, Yiwen & Yang, Meng & Liu, Tingzhu, 2025. "Economic policy uncertainty and litigation risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. Li, Jinglong & Dai, Wei, 2025. "The impact of economic policy uncertainty on controlling shareholder tunneling behavior and governance mechanisms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Wang, Yonglian & Wang, Lijun & Pan, Changchun & Hong, Songzhi, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and price pass-through effect of exchange rate in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Huizheng Liu & Jingyi Zhang & Qi Han & Wenshen Pan & Muhammad Afaq Haider Jafri, 2022. "Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on the Stability of Enterprises Embedded in a Global Value Chain," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 12(2), pages 1-3.
    12. Wu, Ke & Zhang, Yongfang & Chen, Ying & Li, Miao, 2025. "Impact of digital finance on corporate ESG," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PA).
    13. Charemza, Wojciech & Makarova, Svetlana & Rybiński, Krzysztof, 2022. "Economic uncertainty and natural language processing; The case of Russia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 546-562.
    14. Li, Yiping & Zheng, Lanxing & Xie, Chang & Fang, Jiming, 2024. "Big data development and enterprise ESG performance: Empirical evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 742-755.
    15. Yao, Meijie & Chen, Wei, 2025. "Government subsidies, economic policy uncertainty and corporate financialization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PB).
    16. Chen, Tianyu & Yin, Ding & Li, Xinghua & Xu, Xuegao, 2025. "Media attention, information asymmetry and agribusiness ESG rating divergence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    18. Wang, Mansi & Yu, Xinxin & Hong, Xinyi & Yang, Xiaotao, 2025. "Can digital finance promote green innovation collaboration in enterprises?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Ge, Shilong & Luo, Xiaodan & Li, Yuangang & Zheng, Lanxing, 2024. "The impact of green credit policy on total factor productivity of enterprises," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    20. Wang, Lin & Huang, Shuoteng, 2025. "An empirical analysis of digital financial innovation, corporate financing behavior, and information transparency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PF).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:pacfin:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927538x25001672. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pacfin .

    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.