Final Exam Flashcards
Financial Statement Fraud
A type of fraud whereby an individual or individuals purposefully misreport financial information about an organization in order to mislead those who read it
Overstatements
A type of financial statement fraud in which an individual exaggerated a company’s assets or revenues to meet certain objectives
To meet or exceed the earnings or revenue growth expectations of stock market analysts
To comply with loan covenants
To increase the amount of financing available from asset-based loans
To meet a lender’s criteria for granting/extending loan facilities
To meet corporate performance criteria set by the parent company
To meet personal performance criteria
To trigger performance-related compensation or earn-out payments
To support the stock price in anticipation of a merger, acquisition, or sale of personal stockholding
To show a pattern of growth to support a planned securities offering or sale of the business
Understatements
Type of financial statement fraud in which an individual minimizes a company’s liabilities or expenses to meet certain objectives
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Recognition and measurement concepts that have evolved over time and have been codified by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and its predecessor organizations. The standards serve to guide regular business practices and deter financial statement fraud.
Comparability and consistency
Secondary qualitive characteristics that state that a company’s information must be presented with the same consistent method from year to year in order for it to be useful for analytical purposes in decision making
Relevance and Reliability
Primary qualitative characteristics of financial reports as they relate to usefulness for decision making. Relevance t.hat certain implies that certain information will make a difference in arriving at a decision. Reliability means that the user can depend on the factual accuracy of the information
Periodicity
A “time-period” assumption which deems that economic activity be divided into specific time intervals, such as monthly, quarterly, and annualy.
Full Disclosure
A standard for financial reporting that states that an material deviation from generally accepted accounting principles must be explained to the reader of the financial information. Any potential adverse event must be disclosed in the financial statements.
Who Commits Financial Statement Fraud?
Senior management
Mid- and lower-level employees
Organized criminals
Financial Statement Fraud
Deliberate misstatements or omissions of amounts or disclosures of financial statements to deceive financial statement users, particularly investors and creditors.
Defining Financial Statement Fraud
Falsification, alteration, or manipulation of material financial records, supporting documents, or business transactions
Material intentional omissions or misrepresentations of events, transactions, accounts, or other significant information from which financial statements are prepared
Deliberate misapplication of accounting principles, policies, and procedures used to measure, recognize, report, and disclose economic events and business transactions
Intentional omissions of disclosures, or presentation of inadequate disclosures, regarding accounting principles and policies and related financial amounts (Rezaee 2002)
Costs of Financial Statement Fraud
In addition to the direct economic losses of fraud are
Legal costs; increased insurance costs; loss of productivity; adverse impacts on employees’ morale, customers’ goodwill, and suppliers’ trust; and negative stock market reactions
These costs are impossible to measure
Undermines the reliability, quality, transparency, and integrity of the financial reporting process
Jeopardizes the integrity and objectivity of the auditing profession, especially of auditors and auditing firms
Diminishes the confidence of the capital markets, as well as of market participants, in the reliability of financial information
Makes the capital markets less efficient
Adversely affects the nation’s economic growth and prosperity
Results in huge litigation costs
Destroys careers of individuals involved
Causes bankruptcy or substantial economic losses by the company engaged in financial statement fraud
Encourages regulatory intervention
Causes devastation in the normal operations and performance of alleged companies
Raises serious doubt about the efficacy of financial statement audits
Erodes public confidence and trust in the accounting and auditing profession
Methods of Financial Statement Fraud
Fictitious revenues
Timing differences
Improper asset valuations
Concealed liabilities and expenses
Improper disclosures
Fictitious Revenues
Recording of goods or services that did not occur
Fake or phantom customers
Legitimate customers
Sales with conditions
Pressures to boost revenues
Red Flags – Fictitious Revenues
Rapid growth or unusual profitability, especially compared to that of other companies in the same industry
Recurring negative cash flows from operations or an inability to generate cash flows from operations while reporting earnings and earnings growth
Significant transactions with related parties or special purpose entities not in the ordinary course of business or where those entities are not audited or are audited by another firm
Significant, unusual, or highly complex transactions, especially those close to period-end that pose difficult “substance over form” questions
Unusual growth in the number of days’ sales in receivables
A significant volume of sales to entities whose substance and ownership are not known
An unusual surge in sales by a minority of units within a company, or of sales recorded by corporate headquarters
Timing Differences
Recording revenue and/or expenses in improper periods
Shifting revenues or expenses between one period and the next, increasing or decreasing earnings as desired
Matching revenues with expenses
Premature revenue recognition
Long-term contracts
Channel stuffing
Recording expenses in the wrong period
Red Flags – Timing Differences
Rapid growth or unusual profitability, especially compared to that of other companies in the same industry
Recurring negative cash flows from operations, or an inability to generate cash flows from operations, while reporting earnings and earnings growth
Significant, unusual, or highly complex transactions, especially those close to period-end that pose difficult “substance over form” questions
Unusual increase in gross margin or margin in excess of industry peers
Unusual growth in the number of days’ sales in receivables
Unusual decline in the number of days’ purchases in accounts payable
Concealed Liabilities
Liability/expense omissions
Capitalized expenses
Failure to disclose warranty costs and liabilities
Red Flags – Concealed Liabilities
Recurring negative cash flows from operations or an inability to generate cash flows from operations while reporting earnings and earnings growth
Assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenses based on significant estimates that involve subjective judgments or uncertainties that are difficult to corroborate
Nonfinancial management’s excessive participation in or preoccupation with the selection of accounting principles or the determination of significant estimates
Unusual increase in gross margin or margin in excess of industry peers
Allowances for sales returns, warranty claims, and so on that are shrinking in percentage terms or are otherwise out of line with industry peers
Unusual reduction in the number of days’ purchases in accounts payable
Reducing accounts payable while competitors are stretching out payments to vendors
Improper Disclosures
Liability omissions
Subsequent events
Management fraud
Related-party transactions
Accounting changes
Red Flags – Improper Disclosures
Domination of management by a single person or small group (in a non-owner managed business) without compensating controls
Ineffective board of directors or audit committee oversight over the financial reporting process and internal control
Ineffective communication, implementation, support, or enforcement of the entity’s values or ethical standards by management, or the communication of inappropriate values or ethical standards
Rapid growth or unusual profitability, especially compared to that of other companies in the same industry
Significant, unusual, or highly complex transactions, especially those close to period-end that pose difficult “substance over form” questions
Significant related-party transactions not in the ordinary course of business, or with related entities not audited or audited by another firm
Significant bank accounts, or subsidiary or branch operations, in tax haven jurisdictions for which there appears to be no clear business justification
Overly complex organizational structure involving unusual legal entities or managerial lines of authority
Known history of violations of securities laws or other laws and regulations; or claims against the entity, its senior management, or board members, alleging fraud or violations of laws and regulations
Recurring attempts by management to justify marginal or inappropriate accounting on the basis of materiality
Formal or informal restrictions on the auditor that inappropriately limit access to people or information or the ability to communicate effectively with the board of directors or audit committee
Improper Asset Valuation
Inventory valuation
Accounts receivable
Business combinations
Fixed assets
Red Flags – Improper Asset Valuation
Recurring negative cash flows from operations or an inability to generate cash flows from operations while reporting earnings and earnings growth
Significant declines in customer demand and increasing business failures in either the industry or overall economy
Assets, liabilities, revenues, or expenses based on significant estimates that involve subjective judgments or uncertainties that are difficult to corroborate
Nonfinancial management’s excessive participation in or preoccupation with the selection of accounting principles or the determination of significant estimates
Unusual increase in gross margin or margin in excess of industry peers
Unusual growth in the number of days’ sales in receivables
Unusual growth in the number of days’ purchases in inventory
Allowances for bad debts, excess and obsolete inventory, and so on that are shrinking in percentage terms or are otherwise out of line with industry peers
Unusual change in the relationship between fixed assets and depreciation
Adding to assets while competitors are reducing capital tied up in assets
Vertical analysis
Analyzes relationships between items on an income statement, balance sheet, or statement of cash flows by expressing components as percentages