Financial Statement Fraud Risk Mechanisms and Strategies: The Case Studies of Malaysian Commercial Companies

This research examines the potential means available to company managers, auditors and regulators of preventing, detecting and reacting to financial statement fraud. Research is conducted by means of interviews with company managers, auditors and regulators. The findings are, while management integrity and the development of internal systems to prevent fraudulent reporting can help to reduce the probability of financial statement fraud taking place, the nature of financial statement fraud as a crime in which the company is an instrument and not a victim makes it essential that penalties enforced by regulators are used to deter and react to cases where such frauds are detected.