INTRODUCTION
To further academic research, facilitate the development of auditing standards, and inform
regulators of insights from academic literature, in 2006 and 2011, the Auditing Section of
the American Accounting Association (AAA) sponsored a series of literature syntheses.1
As a part of that series, Hogan, Rezaee, Riley, and Velury (2008) and Trompeter, Carpenter, Desai,
Jones, and Riley (2013) examined anti-fraud literature, focusing primarily on research that has been
published in accounting journals with the objective of identifying research implications likely to
have a more immediate impact on auditing and accounting standard setting and practice. Further,
those two papers focus on fraudulent financial reporting. We extend Hogan et al. (2008) and
Trompeter et al. (2013) by reviewing academic research from disciplines outside of accounting and
by including a broader set of fraud topics: employee fraud (e.g., theft, embezzlement) and other
financially motivated crime (e.g., tax evasion, bribery, money laundering).
This project differs from other fraud research syntheses (Hogan et al. 2008; Trompeter et al.
2013) by examining a wider set of theoretical constructs. We move beyond the fraud triangle and
consider the findings of non-accounting research related to broader topics such as theft (by force
rather than deception), the role of punishment, and others. Such topics provide insight into financial
fraud and have the ability to inform practice and accounting research aimed at prevention,
deterrence, and detection of fraud. The scope of the relevant research includes a review of
approximately 30 journals that were identified by the Institute for Fraud Prevention in the fields of
criminology, ethics, psychology, and sociology.
We organize this synthesis around the framework presented by Dorminey, Fleming, Kranacher,
and Riley (2012). While the framework incorporates Cressey’s (1953) fraud triangle, it expands and
refocuses one’s thinking about fraud by including additional factors: (1) organizational and societal
interventions in the areas of deterrence and prevention, and (2) subsequent detection, investigation,
consequences, and remediation of the criminal act once the crime has occurred. We believe that
these additional factors help to identify possible shortcomings in anti-fraud efforts (prevention,
deterrence, and detection) in practice and help researchers identify the role of these constructs in the
examination of fraud and related financial crimes. The framework should also provide broader
perspectives for future research.
Our summary is organized as follows: In the next section, we briefly describe the Dorminey et
al. (2012) framework. We then discuss (primarily) non-accounting academic literature related to
each component of the framework starting with the fraud triangle followed by anti-fraud measures
(i.e., deterrence and detection efforts), the triangle of fraud action, and the consequences of fraud
and financial crime. We conclude with suggestions for future research.
A FRAMEWORK FOR FRAUD AND ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS
In this review and synthesis of the literature, we move beyond the fraud triangle to consider a
broader spectrum of factors that researchers and practitioners may consider in an effort to provide a
more complete perspective on fraud and related financial crimes. Specifically, we base our review
on the model developed by Dorminey et al. (2012). The model is depicted in Figure 1 and is useful
because it provides an expanded framework to help structure one’s thinking about fraud and related
1 This paper (article) is authored by one of the research synthesis teams formed by the Auditing Section. The views
expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect an official position of the AAA or the Auditing
Section. In addition, while discussions with the PCAOB staff helped us identify the issues that are most relevant to
setting auditing and other professional standards, the author team was not selected or managed by the PCAOB, and the
resulting paper expresses our views (the views of the authors), which may or may not correspond to views held by the
PCAOB and its staff.
770 Trompeter, Carpenter, Jones, and Riley
Accounting Horizons
December 2014
financial crimes. This framework is expanded in Tables 1–5 in which we list prior accounting and
non-accounting research for each topic and provide suggestions for future research.
First, the model identifies the pre-fraud state of nature as perceived by the perpetrator (left-hand
side). Following from Cressey’s (1953) original work, the model characterizes perpetrators as the
initial decision makers, the ones who must consider their personal and professional situation as well
as their perception of the deterrence, prevention, and detection fabric in place to determine if a
fraudulent act can be successful in both (1) execution and (2) concealment. Moving to the far right,
the model examines the post-fraud state and focuses on