Fraud Risk Brainstorming at Tesla Motors

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan F. Hess ◽  
Lindsay M. Andiola

ABSTRACT This instructional case offers students the opportunity to explore the fraud risk assessment process and participate in a simulated fraud brainstorming session as required by AS 2401 (formerly SAS 99) for financial statement audits. Drawing on publicly available information about Tesla, Inc. (formerly Tesla Motors), the revolutionary company behind the popular Model S all-electric vehicle, the case materials guide students through multiple learning objectives. These objectives include learning how to: (1) recognize the factors that contribute to financial statement fraud risk; (2) identify and evaluate the likelihood and severity of fraud risks; (3) analyze the ways that fraud risks can lead to material misstatements in the financial statements; (4) understand the purpose of and how to conduct a fraud brainstorming session; and (5) develop audit procedures that respond to assessed fraud risks. In a post-case learning assessment, students reported significant improvement in their knowledge, comprehension, and application of these learning objectives. Students also indicated that they enjoyed learning about these concepts in the context of this popular company. This case has both an individual and a group component, and it is designed for use in an auditing or forensic accounting course at either the undergraduate or the graduate level.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 1262-1275
Author(s):  
Sergei V. ARZHENOVSKII ◽  
Tat'yana G. SINYAVSKAYA ◽  
Andrei V. BAKHTEEV

Subject. This article assesses the propensity for material misstatement risk due to unfair actions of persons charged with the financial statements preparation, based on their behavioral traits. Objectives. The article aims to develop a scoring type methodology for identifying the propensity for material misstatement risk due to unfair actions of persons charged with the financial statements preparation. Methods. For the study, we used a multidimensional statistical method of discriminant analysis based on empirical data from an author-conducted survey of 515 employees charged with the financial statements preparation in companies. Results. The article presents a two-stage methodology that helps estimate whether a person has traits associated with a hyperpropensity for financial statements fraud risk. Conclusions and Relevance. The developed methodology for detecting the fraud risk is easy to use. It gives the result in binary form and does not violate the principles of audit ethics. The estimated material misstatement risk due to unfair actions makes it possible to justify the need for appropriate audit procedures when developing a strategy and audit plan.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shabnam Fazli Aghghaleh ◽  
Zakiah Muhammaddun Mohamed .

The current research studies the usefulness of Cressey’s fraud risk factor framework adopted from SAS No. 99 to prevent fraud from occurring. In accordance with Cressey’s theory, pressure, opportunity and rationalization are existing when fraud occurs. The study suggests variables as proxy measures for pressure and opportunity, and test these variables using publicly available information relating to a set of fraud firms and a sample of no-fraud firms. Two pressure proxies and two opportunity proxies are identified and suggested to be significantly related to financial statement fraud. We find that leverage and sale to account receivable are positively related to the likelihood of fraud. Audit committee size and board of directors’ size are also linked to decrease the level of financial statement fraud. A binary logistic model based on examples of fraud risk factors of fraud triangle model measures the likelihood of financial statement fraud and can assist experts.


Author(s):  
Thuy Nguyen Thi Hong

Different from previous studies in Vietnam, this paper focuses on fraud risk, identifying the factors that affect the risk of financial reporting fraud of listed companies in Vietnam. Moreover, the research aims to forecast the possibility of fraudulent financial statements of listed companies in Vietnam. Based on M-score models (Beneish, 1999) and F-score model (Dechow et al., 2011), this research develops experimental results based on a sample of 307 companies with 3684 financial statements observations from 2007 to 2018. Research results show that the higher financial leverage in firms’ financial statements, the higher risk of financial statements, and the higher fraud’s tendency. Moreover, the findings also show that perennial firms, bigger firms, and listed firms, they likely to have a higher tendency of financial statement fraud. Research results show that the higher the financial leverage ratio, the more errors in reporting, the higher the tendency for fraud. At the same time, the older a business, the larger its scale and listed on the stock exchange, the more likely it is that the financial statements are fraudulent.


Author(s):  
Наталья Валерьевна Ферулева ◽  
Мария Александровна Штефан

Russian stakeholders of joint stock companies, which shares are not traded on a stock exchange, and limited liability companies need the effective instruments which enable them to detect the facts of financial statement fraud quickly because the financial statement remains the main source of information about the companies’ performance for them.  Although Institute of Auditors is one of the most reliable tools which identify financial statement manipulations, the costs, connected with audit, are too high and, and as a result, stakeholders have to look for other instruments to distinguish fraudsters, which make an attempt to overestimate or underestimate net assets and financial results, from non-fraudsters. Mathematical model of the American researcher Messod Beneish can be considered as an example of such tools. The general purpose of this paper is to identify whether it is possible, basing on the Beneish model, to create a new one, which enables to distinguish fraudulent from non-fraudulent financial statements reporting in Russia, and determine the accuracy level of fraud status forecasts made by using this model.  In our research we are going to concentrate on identification of companies, which overestimate net assets and financial results. Tо obtain the information on the financial ratios included in the model we use financial reports of Russian both non-traded joint stock companies and limited liability firms. The conclusion can also be drawn that it is possible to develop the fraud detection probit model and linear model (integrated M-score index), which enabled stakeholders to identify fraud status correctly in 83% and 60 % respectively. Developing the model we include extra parameters, connected with growth rate of other income to sales ratio and an accounting policy of the company. It was found that fraud risk increases if the company chooses accounting policy according to which administrative costs are charged to core product expenses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M. Rose ◽  
Jacob M. Rose ◽  
Ikseon Suh ◽  
Jay C. Thibodeau

ABSTRACT Analytical procedures are critical to the financial statement auditing process and involve the auditor generating and considering multiple explanations for account fluctuations. We examine whether generating more or fewer explanations during analytical procedures improves audit quality. Research from fields outside of accounting suggests that generating many explanations can exacerbate judgment biases. We conduct an experiment with 92 senior auditors from two Big 4 firms to investigate whether the generation of more plausible explanations about potential misstatements hinders professional skepticism by increasing auditors' tendencies to anchor on client-provided explanations. We find that the generation of more plausible explanations increases the perceived difficulty of the task, which leads to anchoring on client explanations. Increased anchoring results in reduced assessments of fraud risk, an important component of the risk assessment process. These findings suggest that generating more explanations during analytics procedures can be counterproductive.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 98
Author(s):  
Faiz Rahman Siddiq ◽  
Sofyan Hadinata

The financial statements will become more qualified in the<br />presentation if the presentation is based on qualitative<br />elements, among others: easy to understand, reliable,<br />comparable (comparable), and relevant. The financial<br />statements are presented to stakeholders, namely:<br />management, employees, investors (shareholders), creditors,<br />suppliers, customers, and government. Fraudulent financial<br />reporting was a deliberate attempt by the company to deceive<br />and mislead the users of financial statements, especially<br />investors and creditors, to present and manipulate the material<br />value of the financial statements. Manipulation gain profit<br />(earnings manipulation) for the company's desire that the stock<br />remains attractive to investors. Fraud triangle theory expressed<br />by Cressey later developed by Wolfe and Hermanson (2009)<br />with theory. Fraud diamond diamond fraud theory consisted of<br />four fraud risk factors are pressure, opportunity, rationalization<br />and capability. Diamond fraud theory can be used in predicting<br />fraud in proksikan with earnings management.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Tien Hung ◽  
Huynh Van Sau

The study was conducted to identify fraudulent financial statements at listed companies (DNNY) on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) through the Triangular Fraud Platform This is a test of VSA 240. At the same time, the conformity assessment of this model in the Vietnamese market. The results show that the model is based on two factors: the ratio of sales to total assets and return on assets; an Opportunity Factor (Education Level); and two factors Attitude (change of independent auditors and opinion of independent auditors). This model is capable of accurately forecasting more than 78% of surveyed sample businesses and nearly 72% forecasts for non-research firms.  Keywords Triangle fraud, financial fraud report, VSA 240 References Nguyễn Tiến Hùng & Võ Hồng Đức (2017), “Nhận diện gian lận báo cáo tài chính: Bằng chứng thực nghiệm tại các doanh nghiệp niêm yết ở Việt Nam”, Tạp chí Công Nghệ Ngân Hàng, số 132 (5), tr. 58-72.[2]. Hà Thị Thúy Vân (2016), “Thủ thuật gian lận trong lập báo cáo tài chính của các công ty niêm yết”, Tạp chí tài chính, kỳ 1, tháng 4/2016 (630). [3]. Cressey, D. R. (1953). Other people's money; a study of the social psychology of embezzlement. New York, NY, US: Free Press.[4]. Bộ Tài Chính Việt Nam, (2012). Chuẩn mực kiểm toán Việt Nam số 240 – Trách nhiệm của kiểm toán viên đối với gian lận trong kiểm toán báo cáo tài chính. [5]. Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of financial economics, 3(4), 305-360.[6]. Võ Hồng Đức & Phan Bùi Gia Thủy (2014), Quản trị công ty: Lý thuyết và cơ chế kiểm soát, Ấn bản lần 1, Tp.HCM, Nxb Thanh Niên.[7]. Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman independence on corporate fraud. Managerial Finance 26 (11): 55-67.[9]. Skousen, C. J., Smith, K. R., & Wright, C. J. (2009). Detecting and predicting financial statement fraud: The effectiveness of the fraud triangle and SAS No. 99. Available at SSRN 1295494.[10]. Lou, Y. I., & Wang, M. L. (2011). Fraud risk factor of the fraud triangle assessing the likelihood of fraudulent financial reporting. Journal of Business and Economics Research (JBER), 7(2).[11]. Perols, J. L., & Lougee, B. A. (2011). The relation between earnings management and financial statement fraud. Advances in Accounting, 27(1), 39-53.[12]. Trần Thị Giang Tân, Nguyễn Trí Tri, Đinh Ngọc Tú, Hoàng Trọng Hiệp và Nguyễn Đinh Hoàng Uyên (2014), “Đánh giá rủi ro gian lận báo cáo tài chính của các công ty niêm yết tại Việt Nam”, Tạp chí Phát triển kinh tế, số 26 (1) tr.74-94.[13]. Kirkos, E., Spathis, C., & Manolopoulos, Y. (2007). Data mining techniques for the detection of fraudulent financial statements. Expert Systems with Applications, 32(4), 995-1003.[14]. Amara, I., Amar, A. B., & Jarboui, A. (2013). Detection of Fraud in Financial Statements: French Companies as a Case Study. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 3(3), 40-51.[15]. Beasley, M. S. (1996). An empirical analysis of the relation between the board of director composition and financial statement fraud. Accounting Review, 443-465.[16]. Beneish, M. D. (1999). The detection of earnings manipulation. Financial Analysts Journal, 55(5), 24-36.[17]. Persons, O. S. (1995). Using financial statement data to identify factors associated with fraudulent financial reporting. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 11(3), 38-46.[18]. Summers, S. L., & Sweeney, J. T. (1998). Fraudulently misstated financial statements and insider trading: An empirical analysis. Accounting Review, 131-146.[19]. Dechow, P. M., Sloan, R. G., & Sweeney, A. P. (1996). Causes and consequences of earnings manipulation: An analysis of firms subject to enforcement actions by the SEC. Contemporary accounting research, 13(1), 1-36.[20]. Loebbecke, J. K., Eining, M. M., & Willingham, J. J. (1989). Auditors experience with material irregularities – Frequency, nature, and detectability. Auditing – A journal of practice and Theory, 9(1), 1-28. [21]. Abbott, L. J., Park, Y., & Parker, S. (2000). The effects of audit committee activity and independence on corporate fraud. Managerial Finance, 26(11), 55-68.[22]. Farber, D. B. (2005). Restoring trust after fraud: Does corporate governance matter?. The Accounting Review, 80(2), 539-561.[23]. Stice, J. D. (1991). Using financial and market information to identify pre-engagement factors associated with lawsuits against auditors. Accounting Review, 516-533.[24]. Beasley, M. S., Carcello, J. V., & Hermanson, D. R. (1999). COSO's new fraud study: What it means for CPAs. Journal of Accountancy, 187(5), 12.[25]. Neter, J., Wasserman, W., & Kutner, M. H. (1990). Applied statistical models.Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Burr Ridge, IL.[26]. Gujarati, D. N. (2009). Basic econometrics. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.[27]. McFadden, D. (1974). Conditional Logit Analysis of Qualita-tive Choice Behavior," in Frontiers in Econometrics, P. Zarenm-bka, ed. New York: Academic Press, 105-42.(1989). A Method of Simulated Moments for Estimation of Discrete Response Models Without Numerical Integration," Econometrica, 54(3), 1027-1058.[28]. DA Cohen, ADey, TZ Lys. (2008), “Accrual-Based Earnings Management in the Pre-and Post-Sarbanes-Oxley Periods”. The accounting review.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-44
Author(s):  
Mariati ◽  
Emmy Indrayani

Company’s financial condition reflected in the financial statements. However, there are many loopholes in the financial statements which can become a chance for the management and certain parties to commit fraud on the financial statements. This study aims to detect financial statement fraud as measured using fraud score model that occurred in issuers entered into the LQ-45 index in 2014-2016 with the use of six independent variables are financial stability, external pressure, financial target, nature of industry, ineffective monitoring and rationalization. This study using 27 emiten of LQ-45 index during 2014-2016. However, there are some data outlier that shall be removed, thus sample results obtained 66 data from 25 companies. Multiple linear regression analysis were used in this study. The results showed that the financial stability variables (SATA), nature of industry (RECEIVBLE), ineffective monitoring (IND) and rationalization (ITRENDLB) proved to be influential or have the capability to detect financial statement fraud. While the external pressure variables (DER) and financial target (ROA) are not able to detect the existence of financial statement fraud. Simultaneously all variables in this study were able to detect significantly financial statement fraud.


2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Robert Knechel ◽  
Jeff L. Payne

The process for providing accounting information to the public has not changed much in the last century even though the extent of disclosure has increased signifi-cantly. Sundem et al. (1996) suggest that the primary benefit of audited financial statements may not be decision usefulness but the discipline imposed by timely confirmation of previously available information. In general, the value of information from the audited financial statement will decline as the audit report lag (the time period between a company's fiscal year end and the date of the audit report) increases since competitively oriented users may obtain substitute sources of information. Furthermore, the literature on earnings quality and earnings management suggests that unexpected reporting delays may be associated with lower quality information. The purpose of this paper is to extend our understanding about the determinants of audit report lag using a proprietary database containing 226 audit engagements from an international public accounting firm. We examine three previously uninvestigated audit firm factors that potentially influence audit report lag and are controllable by the auditor: (1) incremental audit effort (e.g., hours), (2) the resource allocation of audit team effort measured by rank (partner, manager, or staff), and (3) the provision of nonaudit services (MAS and tax). The results indicate that incremental audit effort, the presence of contentious tax issues, and the use of less experienced audit staff are positively correlated with audit report lag. Further, audit report lag is decreased by the potential synergistic relationship between MAS and audit services.


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