IMPACT OF FRAUDULENT ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ON SHAREHOLDERS FUND A CASE STUDY OF FIRST BANK PLC, LAGOS STATE

posted on February 21, 2020

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Broadly speaking, fraud may be defined as an intentional act to gain an advantage by an unfair or unlawful gain. It may include: (Rubin G. A., 2007) fraudulent financial accounting; misappropriation of assets (inside or outside the system, such as: embezzlement, payroll fraud and the); revenue or assets acquired from illegal or unethical activities (excessive customer billing or fraudulent sales practices); costs for illicit purposes (commercial and public bribery as well as other improper payment systems); income received fraudulently or intentionally avoided costs (systems in which an entity commits fraud against its employees or to third parties, or when an entity intentionally avoided costs such as income taxes and sales taxes); fraud against the company (e.g. counterfeit producers knowingly violates intellectual property rights). The Department for Institutional Integrity, which investigates allegations of fraud and corruption within the World Bank Group and the Bank’s financed projects, specifies the actions that might be considered fraud or corruption in the banking system: (Banca Mondială, 2009) auction fraud, understandings among participants in the auction, fraud during the execution of the contract, audit avoidance, setting inappropriate prices and partnerships, miscalculation of costs and work, acceptance of gifts or bribes, soliciting or receiving bribes, incorrectly using the World Bank funds or its positions, fraud in the case of movements, the and deception.

Although all categories of fraud are major and worthy to be debated, only fraudulent financial accounting is handled in the following sections. (Rubin G. A., 2007) Fraud in financial accounting is based on conscious intent of the perpetrator (directors, auditors, employees, etc.) to wrongfully present the reality. But the intended act to wrongfully presenting the reality may be the cause of either fraudulent financial accounting either of undue assets reclaims. Therefore, “fraudulent reporting only refers to intentional misrepresentation, including omissions of amounts designed to mislead the users of the financial statements” can be translated as (Popa I., Man Al. Rus A., 2009): manipulation, forgery, counterfeit or alteration of records or supporting documentation, misstatements/omissions regarding events/transactions/information, intentional misapplication of accounting principles related to values/classification/manner of presentation/delivery of information, fictitious entries records (towards the end of the year) to manipulate operating results or achieve other objectives, improper adjustments of the assumptions and changing in judgments used to estimate account balances, omissions/advances/delays in recognition of events/transactions that occurred during the reporting period, concealment or nondisclosure of facts that could affect the amounts recorded in the financial statements, engaging in complex transactions designed to distort the entity’s financial position or performance; changing the records or conditions of significant transactions. Opposed to fraudulent financial accounting, an undue asset reclaims concern (Popa I., Man Al. Rus A., 2009): revenue dilapidation (revenue coming from unwarranted claims / diverting income), the of physical assets or intellectual property, payments to fictitious suppliers, without the entry of goods / services, use of assets in personal interest (including also personal loan guarantees), false records to cover the deficit. These abuses are often minor and are usually committed by employees, although sometimes, the managers themselves are involved in such activities.