Abstract
This chapter intends to contribute to the analysis of forensic acounting (FA) techniques through a bibliometric review of the existent literature in order to understand the current state of FA research as well as to contribute to the analysis of the influence of FA on corporate governance. Although FA is a modern discipline, in recent years its relevance has been growing very quickly, with the aim to study the use of accounting skills to investigate fraud, embezzlement, and other irregularities hidden as financial transactions. However, no recent study tries to update the current state of the research over this topic. To do so, the authors conduct a bibliometric analysis. The study describes the evolutional research studies published in the digital library Scopus between 2005 and 2020 and compares the results obtained in evolutionary terms. Considering only the FA publications, the Scopus analysis led to a total database of 192 documents. However, this sudy focuses on the research that relates FA and corporate governance concentrating the bibliometric analysis in the Scopus database.
TopBrief Literature Review On Forensic Accounting
The interest of FA research is based on some reasons, such as to identify fraud, embezzlement, and other irregularities hidden as financial transactions. According to Akinbowale et al. (2020), the FA aims to identify and review fraudulent transactions in order to understand what the author's true intention is. Pamungkas et al. (2018) report that accounting fraud results from inadequate supervision of systems. Thus, firms must implement efficient monitoring mechanisms, seeking to standardize the adopted procedures. To put into practice FA, it is needed that accountants possess accounting, auditing, and forensic abilities to deal with fraudulent cases (Grubor et al., 2013). Yang and Lee (2020) argue that associate FA technology with fraud detection is a noteworthy accounting and management issue. Indeed, Bhasin (2016a, 2016b) indicates that applications of analytic technology are crucial for the effectiveness of FA, anti-fraud programs, and fraud investigation.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Fraud: Is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law or criminal law or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements.
Risk: Is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value, often focusing on negative, undesirable consequences. The international standard definition of risk for common understanding in different applications is “effect of uncertainty on objectives.”
Content Analysis: Is the study of documents and communication artifacts, which might be texts of various formats, pictures, audio or video. Social scientists use content analysis to examine patterns in communication in a replicable and systematic manner.
Case Study: Is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context.
Corporate Governance: Is the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a firm is directed and controlled. Corporate governance essentially involves balancing the interests of a company's many stakeholders, such as shareholders, senior management executives, customers, suppliers, financiers, the government, and the community. Since corporate governance also provides the framework for attaining a company's objectives, it encompasses practically every sphere of management, from action plans and internal controls to performance measurement and corporate disclosure.
Forensic Accounting: Is a specialty practice area of accounting that investigates whether firms engage in financial reporting misconduct, in order to aplly practices of fraud or embezzlement. It is usedto analyse financial information for use in legal proceedings, such as to toexlain the nature of a financial crime in court.
Bibliometric Analysis: Is the attempt to quantitatively assess the academic quality of journals or authors by statistical methods such as citation rates.
Measurement: Is the numerical quantitation of the attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. The scope and application of measurement are dependent on the context and discipline.