Statistical analysis: Your fraud early warning system

Description

Abstract: Auditors use a variety of techniques to detect occupational fraud, including statistical analysis. One such technique is “Benford’s Law,” which rests on the assumption that smaller digits occur more frequently than larger ones in sets of random data. When fraud perpetrators attempt to manipulate numbers in certain financial documents, this pattern becomes skewed. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to manipulate data so that it conforms to Benford’s Law. This doesn’t prove fraud, but can indicate that further investigation is necessary.