State and local government fraud survey for 1995

Reports on a questionnaire survey of US local government auditors conducted to determine the amount of fraud in state and local governments. Concludes that fraud is a significant problem for state and local governments and finds that management is not responding effectively to “red flags” or to the actual frauds when they are discovered; most of the loss in fraud cases is accounted for by misappropriation of funds, other false representation, other fraud, or false invoices. The most effective fraud detection methods include: internal audit review; specific investigation by management; employee notification; internal controls; and accidental discovery. Finds that most of the legal departments of the government entities studied did not have policies and procedures for dealing with employees suspected of fraud.