Concealment
As noted previously, there is little accounting research into the nature of fraudsters’
concealment efforts. However, in the field of criminology, Van de Bunt (2010) examines three
reasons why major frauds go undetected: supervision, successful concealment efforts, and silence
maintained in social environments. The author argues that, in the post-fraud discovery period, much
emphasis and blame are assigned to the supervisory mechanisms without giving necessary
recognition to concealment and silence. Secrecy (silence) is achieved by selectively providing
information and by colluding partners’ need to trust one another to ensure the secrets are not
betrayed to non-members. Because no concealment is foolproof, this requires secrecy among
knowledgeable persons. Other factors associated with concealment include: (1) respected
perpetrators that are above suspicion, (2) an absence of interest in disclosing the truth, (3) inaction
in the face of knowing, (4) concerted ignorance, and (5) the fear of consequences of disclosure. In a
corporate setting, top management could circumvent governance mechanisms by taking advantage
of one or more of the above factors. Thus, future research and anti-fraud professionals could work
to develop more effective governance mechanisms that better track the actions of top management
and prevent them from circumventing controls and committing fraud.