Corporate Culture and the Occurrence of Financial Statement Fraud: A Review of Literature

Abstract The complexity of financial statement fraud has received considerable attention over the past few years and will continue to cause concern. Financial statement fraud can surface in many different forms such as overstating assets, sales and profit, understating liabilities and expenses. Although once deceptive accounting practices are initiated, various systems of manipulation will be utilized to maintain the appearance of sustainability. Financial statements are used by shareholders to measure the performance of the firm versus expectations. However, it is sometimes manipulated to meet own greed. Lots of studies have been done in detecting and predicting the occurrence of financial statement fraud. This study explores the significant impact of corporate culture in the occurrence of financial statement fraud. Culture has been widely accepted as a pattern of behavior which influences the character of society. In studying the occurrence of financial statement fraud, an element of corporate culture needs to be considered together with other factors. This paper provides a holistic view of the concept of culture and its effect on organization and behavior. The second purpose is to discuss the effect of the corporate culture within the perspective of financial statement fraud. The findings of the study provide the suggestion for improvement in corporate culture.