An empirical analysis of fraud detection likelihood

Investigates the relative importance of potential factors associated with the likelihood of detecting fraud during the audit of financial statements. Based on a survey of 357 auditors, reveals auditing experience of the auditor and prior success of auditing organization in detecting fraud are constantly significant variables in detecting fraud for each audit cycle and combined cycle estimates. Certified public accountant certification, peer review, and organizational size have impact only on certain specific audit cycles. This study surveyed two types of auditor: first, certified public accountants specialized in auditing publicly held corporations (external); and second, government entities, and internal auditors specialized in auditing publicly held corporations (internal). The respondent auditors evaluated the degree of effectiveness of 218 auditing techniques in detecting fraud. These techniques were associated with four different audit cycles: acquisition and payment, inventory and warehousing, payroll and personnel and sales and collection.