scholarly journals Benford’s Law in Forensic Analysis of Income Statements of Economic Entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-61
Author(s):  
Ševala Isaković-Kaplan ◽  
◽  
Lejla Demirović ◽  
Mahir Proho ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Forensic Analysis ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Business Decisions ◽  
Full Disclosure ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Benford's Law ◽  
And Performance

The objective of preparing and presenting financial statements is to provide information about the financial position and performance of an entity, which is useful to a wide range of users of financial statements for business decisions. If information presented in the financial statements is not full disclosure and/or is incorrect, the presented image of the business entity will be wrong, as well as business decisions made on the basis of such financial statements. Unfortunately, many entities knowingly manipulate revenues and expenses to manage earnings in a way that suits the entity management. Detecting frauds in financial statements is the primary task of forensic accountants. This paper analyzes the possibilities of applying Benford’s law in the forensic analysis of income statements of economic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to detect possible earnings manipulation. The results of the research confirm that the positions of revenues and expenses in the income statements of economic entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina generally follow Benford’s law, but also stress the need to increase attention and conduct additional forensic investigations for certain items as indicators of financial statement manipulation.

Audit Quality Inputs and Financial Statement Conformity to Benford’s Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 0148558X2093046
Author(s):  
Thien Le ◽  
Gerald J. Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Cash Flow ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Audit Fees ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Audit Report ◽  
Audit Firm ◽  
Income Statement ◽  
Benford's Law

We examine whether audit quality inputs are related to the conformity of financial statements to Benford’s law. We find that overall financial statement conformity increases with audit fees, nonaudit fees, and audit report lag, and decreases with audit firm tenure. We also find that these audit quality inputs are more strongly associated with income statement conformity than with cash flow statement conformity. Our findings document the role that auditing plays in enhancing the conformity of financial statements to Benford’s law.

scholarly journals Fraud Detection in Financial Statements Applying Benford's Law with Monte Carlo Simulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-239
Author(s):  
Vladan Pavlović ◽  
Goranka Knežević ◽  
Marijana Joksimović ◽  
Dušan Joksimović
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Benford's Law ◽  
Very High

Benford's Law is a useful tool for detecting fraud in financial statements. In this paper we test the financial item named ‘Work performed by the undertaking for its own purpose and capitalised’ applying this tool. The data are taken from the financial reports of all companies submitted to the Serbian Business Register Agency for the period of 2008–2013. Our conclusion shows that there is a very high probability that the frequency distribution of the second digit does not satisfy Benford's Law. In other words, it implies that certain manipulations have been usually done with the second digit of the aforementioned item in the financial statement. This research confirms our hypothesis that financial statement frauds are usually conducted using the second digit.

scholarly journals Benford’s Law in Forensic Analysis of Registered Turnover

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Edin Glogić ◽  
Zoran Jasak
Keyword(s):  
Financial Statements ◽  
Forensic Analysis ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Forensic Accounting ◽  
Benford's Law ◽  
Lemeshow Test ◽  
Numeric Data ◽  
Digit Frequencies ◽  
Scientific Sense

Abstract Forensic accounting in scientific sense is the part of accounting that assumes the practice of scientific techniques and methods in conducting investigations and detecting criminal activities in financial statements, business statements and companies. One such tool in detecting anomalies in accounting records is the Benford’s Law, which gives the expected pattern of digit frequencies in numeric data sets according to their position in numbers. Because of this property, Benford’s law has become a significant forensic tool for the detection of anomalies, especially in financial business. One of the most important sources is account turnover data in the observed period, which has a debt and credit side. A classic way of analyzing these liabilities is to merge them and then look for a pattern of leading digits. In such approach, it is not possible to properly determine the source of anomalies, which are a guide to deeper analysis. For such purposes, a variant of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test is designed.

scholarly journals Reliability of Financial Information from the Perspective of Benford’s Law

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Ionel Jianu ◽  
Iulia Jianu
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Reporting Standards ◽  
Financial Reporting Standards ◽  
Benford's Law ◽  
Before And After

This study investigates the conformity to Benford’s Law of the information disclosed in financial statements. Using the first digit test of Benford’s Law, the study analyses the reliability of financial information provided by listed companies on an emerging capital market before and after the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The results of the study confirm the increase of reliability on the information disclosed in the financial statements after IFRS implementation. The study contributes to the existing literature by bringing new insights into the types of financial information that do not comply with Benford’s Law such as the amounts determined by estimates or by applying professional judgment.

scholarly journals Analysis of Financial Statements

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. p17
Author(s):  
Petrit Hasanaj ◽  
Beke Kuqi
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Business Decisions ◽  
Business Analysis ◽  
Operational Activities ◽  
Made In

The main purpose of this study is to determine, forecast and evaluate the best of economic conditions and company’s performance in the future. The other purpose of this study is to analyze the financial statement and than give information for financial managers to make through decisions about their business. The financial statement applies tools, analytical techniques and required methods for business analysis. It is a diagnostic tool for evaluating financing activities, investment activities and operational activities as well as an assessment tool for management decisions and other business decisions. The analysis of financial statements, respectively the analysis of the financial reports are used by managers, shareholders, investors and all other interested parties regarding the company's state. Managers use financial reports to see the situation in which the company stands and then provide information to shareholders, to see how reasonable are the investments made in the company. To potential investors, the analysis of the financial statements of the company is very important, because, first they want to know the actual state of the company and then decide whether to invest or not.

Analisis Ratio Keuangan terhadap Perubahan Kinerja pada Perusahaan di Industri Food and Baverages yang Terdaftar pada BEJ

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
DIAN MERIEWATY ◽  
ASTUTI YULI SEIYANI
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Financial Ratios ◽  
Future Earnings ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Total Capital ◽  
Future Earning ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Performance

Financial statements users need financial informotion of companies to analyze their financial condition and performance. Finacial rotios are useful rneasares for explaning the future earning changes. The study focuses on the usefulness of ftnancial ratios in explaning future eamings.The objective of the study is to empirically examine whether financial statement based tinancial ratios hove ability for explaning future earnings. Data in this study were in food and beverages firms listed on the Jaknrta Stock Exchange. Regression analysis were used in testing the ability financial ratios for explaning changes. The multicollinearity test shows that there is no assosiation between independent variables, indicating multieollinearity is not a seriaus problem. The heteroscedasticity test shows that voriances of disturbances are constant for all observation in independentt variables. Therefore heteroscedasticity is not a problem. The empiricolly result showed that, financial ratios in/luences the futureearnings changes for earning after tax are total debt to total capital assets, total assets turnover, and return on investment. Among those sevent financial ratios that are significant influences the future earnings changes for operating prortt is current ratio.Keywords : Financial Ratios, Performance changes of firms, significantlyinfluence.

Benford's Law Verification on Local Government Financial Statements

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-166
Author(s):  
Ho-Nam Moon ◽  
◽  
Dong-Wuk Kim
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Benford’S Law ◽  
Benford's Law

scholarly journals FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AS AN INFORMATION SOURCE FOR THE FINANCIAL CONDITION ANALYSIS AT THE ENTERPRISE

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (18(46)) ◽  
pp. 57-61
Author(s):  
Nataliia Ivanchuk
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Direct Method ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Income Statement ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Detailed Interpretation

Financial statements contain a wide range of indicators that are required for the correct assessment of the financial resources, directions of investment and efficiency of financial resources usage at the enterprise. This enables to ensure the adoption of the necessary management decisions, to raise funds to finance the activities of the entity from potential investors. In the research, the author has considered the essence, the purpose of drawing up and interested users of the financial statements, its shortcomings in the analysis of a financial condition. The article has proved that the financial statements of the company need improvement to ensure fuller satisfaction of the information needs of interested users, as the existing system of indicators of this report does not fully solve all the problems of financial condition analysis of the company. The author has suggested the following ways to improve the structure of financial statements of the enterprise: 1) in the Income Statement: – adding lines that will show fixed and variable costs of the enterprise; – showing in a separate line the financial costs related to the accrual of interest for the use of borrowed funds; 2) in the Cash Flow Statement (created by the direct method): – adding an additional section, which reflects the monthly receipt and expenditure of cash (during the reporting and previous period); 3) in the Financial Statement Notes: – providing a detailed interpretation of the articles from the previous forms so that users do not have questions about the content of articles that contain the word «others»; – providing the necessary information about the renewal of fixed assets; the usage of equipment; rationing of current assets; changes in overdue receivables; structure of receivables and payables in terms of such types as debts under the terms of contracts and overdue debts; – publishing the index of prices for products of the enterprise and the index of change in the cost of production compared to the previous year; buyers and suppliers the company interacts with; prices and profitability of securities owned by the company; investments in inventory incurred during the year; 4) approving a single form of the Financial Statement Notes that will ensure uniformity of information presentation by all domestic enterprises.

scholarly journals ANALISIS PENERAPAN AKUNTANSI BERBASIS AKRUAL DALAM PENYAJIAN LAPORAN KEUANGAN PADA BADAN PENGELOLA KEUANGAN DAN ASET DAERAH PROVINSI SULAWESI UTARA

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Anastasya A. Lasabuda ◽  
Jenny Morasa ◽  
Victorina Z. Tirayoh
Keyword(s):  
Government Regulation ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Financial Reports ◽  
Government Accounting ◽  
North Sulawesi ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Regional Budgets ◽  
The Impact

All government entities using funds from national and regional budgets must prepare financial reports referring to government accounting standards which regulated in government regulation No 71 in 2010 and start begin on 2015. The regional goverment financial reports required to be properly according to applicable regulation. Financial reports regional was a responsibility and performance picture in an accounting periods. The purpose of this study was to analyze the accrual basis implementation of SAP No 71 years 2010 and to know the impact ot the financial statement presentation on BPKAD in North Sulawesi Province. Methods used is descriptive qualitative, through observation, interview, analysis and make inferences. The research results showed the application of the base accrued in BPKAD of North Sulawesi Province in the presentation of the financial statements was in accordance with SAP No 71 years 2010. The impact caused by the accounting system based accrual that this report financial more than easier, quick and integrated, and can tell about information budget expended and can be monitored directly by the management to decision maker.

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