Forensic Accounting and Detection of Occupational Fraud in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks

Abstract

Banks play a vital role in the intermediation of financial resources in the financial system. However, the recurrent nature of fraud has made deposit money banks less effective. The study aims to examine the effect of forensic accounting on the detection of occupational fraud in Nigerian deposit money banks with a specific focus on data mining techniques, computer-assisted audit techniques, and trend analysis. Data were collected from primary sources using a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regression. The result shows that R2 and R2 Adjusted has the value of 0.917484 and 0.901904. The study then conclude that data mining technique has a significant positive effect on occupational fraud detection while the computer-assisted audit technique has a significant positive effect on occupational fraud detection and that trend analysis has a significant positive effect on occupational fraud detection. This finding implies that the detection of occupational fraud will be enhanced when forensic accounting technique is employed. The study therefore recommends, that deposit money banks should enhance the internal control systems with data mining techniques, computer-assisted audit techniques, and trend analysis feature to uncover asset misappropriation fraud in Nigerian deposit money banks by the central bank of Nigeria.