Open AccessCriminological characteristics of fraud and its implications for the audit activity
Author(s) -
Volodymyr Holovach,
Tetiana Holovach
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ekonomìka, fìnansi, pravo/ekonomìka. fìnansi. pravo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2786-5517
pISSN - 2409-1944
DOI - 10.37634/efp.2021.3.1
Subject(s) - differential association , audit , misconduct , rationalization (economics) , psychology , white collar crime , differential (mechanical device) , legislation , deviance (statistics) , identification (biology) , accounting , business , criminology , political science , law , computer science , engineering , botany , machine learning , biology , aerospace engineering
The paper discusses the requirements of International Standards on Auditing (ISA) for the identification and assessment of the distortions of financial statements based on the criminological characteristics of fraud. It is found that ISAs, in considering the management's misconduct by the auditor, propose to be guided by the fraud triangle, which is once developed by the American criminologist Donald Ray Cressy. He is known as researcher of white-collar crime from the standpoint of the theory of differential association. This theory is based on the fact that the individual perceives some values positively, and rejects others. As a result, inappropriate behavior is learned by interacting with other actors through communication. It is during communication the certain motives, which are the result of interpretation of the legislation regarding the determination of favorable or negative circumstances, are formed.Being guided by this approach, the representatives of the differential association theory during the study of misconduct focused on the methods, motives, attitudes, explanations of illegal encroachment, that justify the decisions, as well as the issues of rationalization and improvement of illegal activity. They also noted that differential associations may differ in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.It is established that such fraud assessment is widely used by foreign experts and it received some attention from domestic scientists and practitioners. Instead, its knowledge by auditors is at initial level and doesn't allow to analyze effectively the various fraud risks. In this regard, the need for in-depth study of the fraud's criminological characteristics in the real conditions of economic development of Ukraine is justified. The attention is paid on the significant spread of fraud in Ukraine and the negative impact of such criminal offenses on auditing. The suggestions for improvement of the financial statements audits with taking into account the criminological analysis of misconduct of management staff are made.