Thieves from within: occupational fraud in Canada

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the characteristics of perpetrators of occupational fraud and their effects on organizations. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on a 2006 occupational fraud web survey conducted in Canada by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) using a multivariate regression analysis to explain the effect of perpetrators' characteristics on fraud losses. Findings - The authors' analyses show that the perpetrator's position (i.e. employee, manager, executive/owner), gender, education level and the presence of accomplices (i.e. collusion) appear to affect fraud losses when analyzed separately. However, only the perpetrator's position and collusion are statistically significant when controlling for the potential correlation among explanatory factors. Research limitations/implications - This study contributes to academia and the anti‐fraud profession by measuring the statistical effect of perpetrators' characteristics on fraud losses while controlling for the potential correlation among these characteristics. Practical implications - This study is useful to regulatory agencies and anti‐fraud professionals because it provides information about the characteristics of perpetrators of occupational fraud, who are more likely to be associated with larger frauds, thus pinpointing where prevention and detection efforts may be most effective. Originality/value - This paper is based on proprietary data owned by the ACFE and is the first to analyze the statistical significance of the characteristics of perpetrators of occupational fraud in Canada.