Do τ lepton branching fractions obey Benford’s Law?

This study investigates the conformity to Benford’s Law of the information disclosed in financial statements. Using the first digit test of Benford’s Law, the study analyses the reliability of financial information provided by listed companies on an emerging capital market before and after the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The results of the study confirm the increase of reliability on the information disclosed in the financial statements after IFRS implementation. The study contributes to the existing literature by bringing new insights into the types of financial information that do not comply with Benford’s Law such as the amounts determined by estimates or by applying professional judgment.

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Authoritarian regimes' propensity to manipulate Covid-19 data: a statistical analysis using Benford's Law

Commonwealth and Comparative Politics ◽

10.1080/14662043.2021.1916207 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Ahmad Kilani

Keyword(s):

Statistical Analysis ◽

Authoritarian Regimes ◽

Benford’S Law ◽

Benford's Law

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Abiding by the Law? Using Benford’s Law to Examine the Accuracy of Nonprofit Financial Reports

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0899764019881510 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 548-570 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Heng Qu ◽

Richard Steinberg ◽

Ronelle Burger

Keyword(s):

Statistical Methods ◽

Organizational Level ◽

Benford’S Law ◽

Financial Reports ◽

Forensic Accounting ◽

Data Form ◽

Benford's Law ◽

Natural Data ◽

The Individual ◽

Academic Study

Benford’s Law asserts that the leading digit 1 appears more frequently than 9 in natural data. It has been widely used in forensic accounting and auditing to detect potential fraud, but its application to nonprofit data is limited. As the first academic study that applies Benford’s Law to U.S. nonprofit data (Form 990), we assess its usefulness in prioritizing suspicious filings for further investigation. We find close conformity with Benford’s Law for the whole sample, but at the individual organizational level, 34% of the organizations do not conform. Deviations from Benford’s law are smaller for organizations that are more professional, that report positive fundraising and administration expenses, and that face stronger funder oversight. We suggest improved statistical methods and experiment with a new measure of the extent of deviation from Benford’s Law that has promise as a more discriminating screening metric.

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