Page 124 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

How Occupational Fraud is Committed

Asset Misappropriations of asset misappropriation in our study, and 910 of those
(87.7%) involved the misappropriation of cash. A little
Cash vs. Non-Cash less than one-fourth of the cases we reviewed involved the
As the data on the previous page show, asset misappropri- misappropriation of non-cash assets such as inventory,
ations are by far the most common form of occupational equipment or proprietary information. The median loss
fraud. Over 90% of the cases we reviewed involved some in schemes targeting non-cash assets was $200,000, which
form of asset misappropriation, which is consistent with was slightly higher than the median loss in frauds involv-
data from our studies in 2004 and 2002. ing cash misappropriation.

As one would expect, the asset that fraudsters target most
often is cash (the term cash includes not only currency, but
also checks and money orders). There were 1,038 cases

Breakdown of Asset Misappropriations – Cash vs. Non-Cash
4

Asset Targeted 23.4% 87.7% Cash ($150,000)
Non-Cash ($200,000)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of Cases

The sum of percentages in this chart exceeds 100% because a number of cases involved the misappropriation of both cash and non-cash assets. In those
4
cases, we were unable to subdivide the losses to determine exactly how much was attributable to cash vs. non-cash schemes.

1 ACFE Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse