Page 292 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

perpetrators

We asked respondents to provide information about the
fraud perpetrators in their cases so we could better un- We collected information about
derstand how occupational fraud levels and losses are the individuals responsible for
related to demographic information such as age, job
type, gender, education and position of authority. In cas- occupational fraud in order to
es where there were multiple offenders, the responses better understand the character-
relate to the principal perpetrator — the person identified istics of those who commit fraud.
by the CFE as the primary culprit in the case. The follow-
ing is a summary of the data we received.

perpetrator’s position
We asked survey respondents whether the perpetrator
was an employee, a manager or an owner/executive. Be-
low we see that the distribution of cases based on the
perpetrator’s position was fairly similar to what we found
in our 2008 study, although the 2010 distribution was
slightly more skewed toward employees and managers.

More than 80% of the frauds in our study
Not surprisingly, there was a strong correlation between the
perpetrator’s position of authority and the losses caused by were committed by individuals in six
fraud. The median loss in owner/executive frauds was more departments: accounting, operations,
than three times the loss caused by managers, and more sales, executive/upper management,
customer service and purchasing.
than nine times higher than losses in employee fraud cases.

Position of Perpetrator — Frequency

2010
42.1%
Employee 39.7% 2008
Position of Perpetrator Manager 37.1% 41.0%

Owner/Executive 16.9%
23.3%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Percent of Cases

48 | 2010 RepoRt to the NAtioNs ON OccuPATIONAl FRAUD ANd AbuSE