Fraudulent Financial Reporting: 1998–2007, An Analysis of U.S. Public Companies

COSO sponsored this study to create a comprehensive analysis of fraudulent financial reporting occurrences investigated by the SEC between January 1998 and December 2007. It updates COSO’s 1999 issuance of a similar study covering 1987–1997.

The results of this study will be useful to external auditors, boards of directors, investors, regulators, and other key stakeholders as they seek to prevent, deter, and detect fraudulent financial reporting.

The analysis covers the following, among many other topics:

•  Increased numbers of alleged cases of public company fraudulent financial reporting from 1998–2007 versus 1987–1997 and increases in their dollar magnitude

•  Characteristics of alleged fraud perpetrators and increased C-suite involvement

•  Issues related to the external auditor, including external auditors being accused of fraud and auditor changes during fraud period

•  Nature of companies involved and most common fraud techniques

•  Long-term negative consequences to companies and individuals that engaged in fraud

With its comprehensive and effective discussion, Fraudulent Financial Reporting: 1998–2007, An Analysis of U.S. Public Companies will bring you up to date on the latest trends in public company fraud based on scrutiny of 10 years of data.