Commentary from the American Accounting Association's 2011 Annual Meeting Panel on Emerging Issues in Fraud Research

Abstract

The co-editor, Terry Shevlin, invited the presenters on the panel to prepare a write-up of the panel presentation and discussion.

Challenges to the fraud triangle: Questions on its usefulness

“…This explanatory attempt has gained ascendency and is built on a construction that sees fraud as being rooted in the individual's frail morality; it invariably takes the character of the apparently deviant individual(s) into question (Morales et al, 2014: 177;Power, 2013: 526). Fraud is centred on "individual acts of moral deviance" (Morales et al, 2014: 177) and is associated with a neurotic personality (Dorminey et al, 2010), a Machiavellian attitude (Murphy, 2012), and an industrial psychopath's deceit for financial gain (Ramamoorti, 2008;Brazel, Jones, & Zimbelman, 2009;Murphy & Dacin, 2011;Albrecht et al, 2012;Brody, Melendy & Perri, 2012). Psychological traits such as dishonesty, greed and self-interest are seen as the main motivations for fraud.…”

“…First, the endorsement of a flawed model has led individuals to believe that they can continue their actions without getting caught, amplifying their motivation to cheat. Second, the heavy reliance on the ACFE's limited conception of fraud and the focus on the fraud triangle and its antecedent's concepts (Brody et al, 2012) has established opportunities for concealment, enabling individuals and organisations to successfully plan and execute fraud. Third, concealment of fraud has been aided and abetted by an identifiable discourse that has linked rationalisation to attitude, in the process aligning fraudulent behaviour with the individual's personality and frail morality (AICPA, 2002: 8).…”

Red Collar Crime

“…Unfortunately, despite the enormity of economic damage committed by this offender group (Freidrichs, 2007), be it financial, emotional or physical (Pleyte, 2003), the characteristics of white-collar offending and their behavioral characteristics have been understudied to society's detriment even though this offense, at times, is perceived as more serious than traditional street-level crimes (Harel, 2015). There exists a bias, whether conscious or not, that there is something inherently different about the white-collar offender profile that prompts a different analysis than non-white-collar offenders instead of examining the similarities in their criminal attitudes (Brody, Melendy, & Perri, 2012).…”

“…A common misperception is that white-collar crimes represent out of character offenses because white-collar criminals, who are generally educated, employed, and considered law-abiding, exhibit ethical behavior in other facets of their lives and are therefore less apt to engage in crime despite the magnitude of their harm (Brody, Melendy, & Perri, 2012). This misperception persisted for many decades because scholars in the various social and behavioral sciences failed to apply the criminal thinking traits to white-collar offenders as contrasted to non-white-collar offenders.…”

Sutherland, Cleckley and Beyond: White-Collar Crime and Psychopathy

“…6, No. 4; because educated, law-abiding citizens who work are less apt to engage in crime with values more in line with leading ethical lives (Brody et al, 2012). For example, it is often noted by scholars that white-collar criminals are perceived as being "one-shot criminals", not likely to engage in criminality on a wide spread basis (Benson & Simpson, 2009) or they are more likely to be "accidental offenders" representing something different than the conventional public image of street-level criminals (Dorminey, Fleming, Kranacher, & Riley, 2010).…”