Page 119 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

At the time the 1996 Report was released – five years be- We also made a significant change in our methodology
fore the string of financial statement frauds highlighted that should be noted. In past editions of the Report, we
by Enron and WorldCom — there was surprisingly little asked respondents to provide a detailed report on any one
research available on how occupational fraud impacted case they had investigated within the relevant time frame.
companies and government agencies; this despite the fact In our 2006 survey, we asked respondents to report on the
that practical experience and anecdotal evidence clearly largest case they had investigated in the past two years. We
indicated that the problem was one of enormous sever- included this criterion because we believe that in studying
ity. After we released the 1996 Report, we received a tre- how fraud affects organizations, where a limited number
mendous response from anti-fraud professionals, many of of cases can be analyzed, it makes sense to focus on the
whom for the first time had hard data to support what cases that cause the most harm. Because of the change
they already knew or suspected — that occupational fraud in survey methodology, we are not including any data in
was a significant threat to their organizations. this Report comparing fraud losses to those from previous
studies. A complete statement of our methodology in this
We released updated editions of the Report in 2002 and study is contained at the end of this Report.
2004. Like the first study, each subsequent edition was
based on detailed case information about specific frauds We believe the current Report will prove to be the most
provided by the CFEs who investigated those cases. Each illuminating and useful edition to date. It is our hope that
Report has been structured along the same lines, focusing the information contained herein will provide valuable
on the methods used by employees, managers, and execu- insights to any person or organization concerned with
tives to defraud their organizations; the losses caused by detecting, deterring, or preventing occupational fraud and
those frauds; and the characteristics of both the perpetra- abuse.
tors and the victims of these crimes. The current edition
of the Report is based on 1,134 actual cases of occupa-
tional fraud — more than twice the number that made up
the data set in our 2004 Report. The increased number
of cases has allowed us to analyze the data in a more de-
tailed and thorough manner than in any previous edition
of the Report to the Nation. For the first time, we are able to
provide detailed data about how specific methods of fraud
affect various industries and also how those methods are
related to particular departments or job types within or-
ganizations.

ACFE Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse