Financial Scandal: The Case of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Thailand

Financial scandals are not new, but their growing sophistication, complexity and ability to inflict widespread damage to people and entire economies is of huge concern. Our study takes a case of embezzlement involving 1.58 billion baht (USD 52 million) at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand, to examine what could have been done to avoid its occurrence. We interviewed the key commanders of Division 1, Crime Suppression Division (CSD), Central Investigation Bureau, The Royal Thai Police, Thailand. We interviewed five internal auditors to see what kind of good internal controls, internal auditing system and governance should have been in place. We furthered our study by interviewing top-ranked executive management of a private educational institution to see how its internal control systems compare with those of public institutions. The KMITL case shows the need to examine the adequacy of current standards for internal controls, auditing systems and governance.