The first factor of fraud triangle is motivation. It mostly arises due to financial problems
such as gambling addiction, accumulated debt, unexpected expenditures or just the lure
of greed (Buchholz, 2012). Another possible motivation is performance-based
compensation or remuneration plan for top managers, which might lead to incentives to
fake positive earnings or upward share price (Day, 2010). Besides the perceived nonsharable
financial needs above, there are non-financial motivations of maintaining
reputation, gaining popularity or any other method of advancing one’s personal social
standing. Day (2010) adds that the motivation is based on personal status and those
needs could be determined by either the hunger to achieve or the fear of losing it.
Unlike economic incentive, these non-financial motivations are hard to detect and fully
explain.