An Exploratory Study of Internal Control and Fraud Prevention Measures in Smes

In 2014, there were an estimated 2.3 million cases, a twenty-two percent increase from the previous year (Andrews, 2016). According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft complaints have also increased by more than 47 percent since 2014 and it was the second most reported crime after illegal debt collection. (“FTC Releases Annual Summary of Consumer Complaints Debt Collection, Identity Theft, and Imposter Scams Remain Top Categories of Complaints Received by FTC in 2015”, 2016) “The 2017 Identity Fraud Study, released by Javelin Strategy & Research, found that $16 billion was stolen from 15.4 million U.S. consumers in 2016, compared with $15.3 billion and 13.1 million victims in 2015. In the past six years identity thieves have stolen over $107 billion.” (“Identity Theft and Cybercrime”,

Day J. and Krakhmal V. (2006) fourth edition (2011), An introduction to accounting and finance in business, Milton Keynes, The Open University

Cases of fraud have been increasing over the years, and different agencies and authorities that have the task of subduing fraud have to get involved and put a stop to it. In the instance of which fraud has been uncovered, it is crucial to be aware of the red flags that were present in relation to fraud and associate them to the factors related to the fraud risk assessment. As Troy Gillard states in the Rd news magazine, a man that broke free after being acknowledged as suspicious when he wanted to take a loan out at the Cash Canada using a stolen ID amongst other official documents that had been stolen. It seemed that the ID and the other documents

The other factor that facilitates the occurrence of the love scam has been highlighted as the shortcomings of the national banking system. The Internet love scam crime is facilitated by Malaysia’s new and advanced banking system which permits culprits who are the persons responsible for a crime to effortlessly set up accounts and perform global transfers (Reuters, 2014). Other than that, assuming another person’s identity is also created easily by banks permitting individuals to open accounts online (Quinn, 2014). Identity theft occurs when somebody steals casualty’s personal information, for example, identity card number, telephone number, address, credit or debit card number or financial account data, and uses the information to open up lines

Copyright 2006 The Society of Management Accountants of Canada All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the copyright holder.

Datar, S., Rajan, M., (2013). Financial and Managerial accounting, custom edition, Pearson Learning Solutions, Ch. 9

Mohana, R (2011). Financial Statement Analysis and Reporting. New Delhi: Asoke K. Ghosh, PHI Learni

By: Banham, Russ. Journal of Accountancy. Oct 2017, Vol. 224 Issue 4, p28-32. 5p. , Database: Business Source Complete

Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., & Kieso, D. E. (2012). Accounting Principles (10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & sons.

Sources of information:Bevan J, Dransfield R, Coupland-Smith H, Goymer J and Richards C – BTEC Level 3 National Business StudentBook 1 (Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906343Bevan J, Goymer J, Richards C and Richards N – BTEC Level 3 National Business Student Book 2(Pearson, 2009) ISBN 9781846906350Coupland-Smith H and Mencattelli C – BTEC Level 3 National Business Teaching Resource Pack(Pearson, 2009) ISBN

Libby, R., Libby, P., & Short, D. (2009). Financial accounting; 6th Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Retreived from: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073324833/student_view0/chapter1/information.html.

This is a closed book examination. You are not permitted to access any books, notes or other written materials. Silent calculators, nonprogrammable are allowed. Questions must be answered on the examination paper. Answer all parts of all questions.

This document is authorized for use only in Financial Management23 by Dr. Raj, at Institute of Management Technology - Dubai from January 2015 to July 2015.

1. Brigham, Eugene F. and Michael C. Ehrhardt. Financial Management Theory and Practice, 13th Edition, Thompson South-Western, ISBN-13# 978-14390-7809-9, ISBN-10#1-4390-7809-2

Apart from references of other people’s work which were fully acknowledged, I hereby certify that this research work was wholly done by me under the guidance of my supervisor, Mallam Sani Gurowa of Department of Accounting, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria.