Fraud

ACCA F8考試

Fraud—an intentional act by one or more individuals among management, those charged with governance, employees, or third parties, involving the use of deception to obtain an unjust or illegal advantage.

Fraud risk factors—events or conditions that indicate an incentive or pressure to commit fraud or provide an opportunity to commit fraud.

Types of Fraud

Fraudulent Financial Reporting

Fraudulent financial reporting involves misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures intended to deceive users of financial statements.

It includes:

Manipulation, falsification, forgery or alteration of accounting records or supporting documents.

Misrepresentation, or intentional omission, of disclosure of significant events, transactions, balances or other information.

Deliberate misapplication of accounting principles affecting the measurement, recognition and disclosure of elements of the financial statements.

Misappropriation of Assets

Misappropriation of assets includes the theft or misuse of company assets.

When perpetrated by employees, the amounts involved are often not material.

When perpetrated by management, the amounts are often material and can be difficult to detect.

Misappropriation of assets is often motivated by persons "living beyond their means". Examples include:

Embezzlement (of monies).

Stealing physical assets or intellectual property (e.g. making program codes available to a competitor, collusion with a competitor).

Using an entity's tangible assets for personal benefit (using business aircraft for personal use; using business assets as personal loan collateral).

Causing the business to pay for goods and services not received.

The theft may be, but is not necessarily, concealed by falsified records or documents (e.g. "teeming and lading", falsified bank statements, confirmation letters or supplier contracts).