Awareness, Causes and Measures for prevention of Corporate Frauds in India-An Empirical Study

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Rita Singh, A K Das Mohapatra

Abstract

Fraud prevention and detection has remained almost a challenge for the corporate world today especially when reports of sporadic occurrence of frauds do keep on coming, having its enormous adverse effect on the economy, the industrial climate the country, the country’s image as a whole, and on the stakeholders’ confidence. Occurrence of frauds has never remained confined to any large business houses alone, or for that purpose to any specific manufacturing or service organizations. Smaller organizations, Mutual Fund Business, Chit Funds, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), banking firms such as the Punjab National Bank (PNB) in India have also found their names in some or the other form of frauds. Corporate executives keep on looking for means and mechanism to prevent frauds and to detect any frauds already committed with remedial measures. Forensic Accounting, which is a specialised area of accounting that is used to investigate crime, is one such technique that helps to prevent and detect frauds.


This study examined the perception of accounting practitioners in India with particular reference to awareness about fraud and forensic accounting, causes of fraud and measures to detect and prevent fraud. The data used in the study have been collected from both primary and secondary sources. For the collection of primary data, a well-structured questionnaire was developed using Five point Likert-Scale. The data was analyzed through One-Way ANOVA to determine if the difference in the perceptions of the respondents is statistically significant depending upon the respondents’ demographic profile, i.e., Gender, Age and Job description. The data was analyzed through SPSS version 23.0. The study revealed that the accounting practitioners are aware of the occurrence of frauds and further that they are in agreement to the fact that forensic accounting can help in fraud detection and prevention; Concealment of facts and figures leads to violation of accounting convection and principle of ‘Disclosure ‘and transparency, as a source of occurrence of frauds; and strong organizational value. The study further revealed that there is no significant difference in the perception of male and female practitioner with regard to occurrence of fraud; material misstatement is a major cause of fraud, and proper training of employees helps in reducing corporate fraud. As regards the age as a demographic variable, the study lead to the finding that there is no difference in the perception of the respondents in terms of their age that forensic accounting can help in fraud detection and fraud prevention; poor internal control results in reduced operational efficiency and increased corporate fraud; and fair practices of financial reporting strengthen the confidence of stakeholders. Also, based on their job description, there is no significant difference in the perception of the accounting practitioners that Forensic accountant who is not affected by the limitations of the audit process is in a better position to discover fraud; Employees having knowledge of the grey areas are likely to take the advantage for committing unscrupulous activities; and Conducive organizational environment can help in a bigger way to prevent corporate frauds.

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How to Cite
Rita Singh, A K Das Mohapatra. (2023). Awareness, Causes and Measures for prevention of Corporate Frauds in India-An Empirical Study. European Economic Letters (EEL), 13(4), 875–903. https://doi.org/10.52783/eel.v13i4.673
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