Page 430 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Methods of Fraud in Small Businesses
Figure 21 demonstrates that organizations with fewer than 100 employees face different fraud risks than larger
organizations. For example, check tampering schemes occurred in 22% of small business cases, but only 7% of
cases in larger organizations. In addition, payroll and cash larceny schemes were found to occur twice as often in
small businesses as in larger businesses. Our findings also show that corruption remains a significant threat to larg-
er organizations, occurring in nearly 40% of reported cases; in contrast, 33% of the incidents at small businesses
involved corruption.

Figure 21: Scheme Type by Size of Victim Organization

Corruption 33.0% 39.5%
Billing 28.7%
20.3%
Check Tampering 22.1%
6.8%
18.1%
Non-Cash 17.0% 22.8%
Skimming
SCHEME TYPE Reimbursements 10.2% 13.1% 16.5%
Expense
16.5%
Payroll
Cash Larceny 8.2% 14.4%
7.0%
Financial 12.2%
Statement Fraud 7.8% <100
Cash on Hand 12.0% Employees
12.7%
Register 3.2% 100+
Disbursements 2.8% Employees
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
PERCENT OF CASES

26 REPORT TO THE NATIONS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD AND ABUSE