Page 4 - How Not To Cook The Books Article

Fraud, Wrekin Construction and David Unwin

Fraud is any intentional act or omission designed to deceive others,

resulting in the victim suffering a loss and/or the perpetrator achieving a
gain, usually, monetary. This means that the perpetrator induces a
course of action by deceit or other dishonest conduct which may involve
acts or omissions or the making of false statements either orally or in
writing with the object of obtaining a benefit or evading a liability.

Many words are used to describe fraud such as: Scam, con, swindle,
extortion, sham, double-cross, hoax, cheat, ploy, ruse, hoodwink,
confidence trick. But whatever term is used the outcome is the same.
Usually the perpetrators of fraud can generally be typified by:

• Gender – larger and higher volume of frauds committed by men
• Age – typically middle aged
• Education – as the level of education rises so do the losses

caused
• Criminal history – majority of perpetrators are first time offenders

• Time with the company – the longer employed the bigger the loss
• Department - Most likely to work in accounts, sales, customer
service, purchasing, engineering and internal auditors,

In the case of Wrekin Construction the fraud was a white collar crime
and, as diagram 1 shows, poor corporate governance and a weak
organisation structure allowed it to occur.