SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Technology Education

CONTRIBUTORS:

Udukeke, O. F.
Ezenwafor, J. I.

ABSTRACT:

This study was on utilisation of forensic auditing investigation techniques for fraud detection in large scale business organisations (LSBOs) in Delta State, Nigeria. Six research questions guided the study and twelve null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Related literature to the study were reviewed. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 260 accounting staff of large scale business organisations in Delta State. A sample size of 160 was drawn for the study using simple random sampling technique. A four-point rating scale questionnaire developed by the researcher was used for data collection. The internal consistency method with Cronbach Alpha technique was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and this yielded reliability coefficient values of 0.85, 0.80, 0.83, 0.91, 0.88 and 0.84 respectively for the different sections with an overall reliability coefficient value of 0.85. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and ascertain the homogeneity of the respondents’ views while t-test and Analysis of variance were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that the accounting staff lowly utilised data mining, anonymous communication and background investigation techniques and moderately utilised analytical technique and investigative interview for fraud detection in the LSBOs. Only substantive test was highly utilised. Furthermore, it was found that types and status of organisation in NSE significantly influenced respondents’ ratings on the utilisation of data mining but did not influence their ratings on utilisation of the five other techniques for fraud detection. Based on the findings, it was concluded that forensic auditing investigation techniques were not adequately utilised for fraud detection in the LSBOs in Delta State, which accounts for the incessant cases of fraud in such organisations. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others, that managers of large scale business organisations in Delta State should provide regular training for their accounting staff on analytical and other forensic auditing techniques to enable them detect and nip fraud in the bud. Shareholders in large scale business organisations should insist that the techniques used in the study and other forensic auditing techniques are adequately utilised by holding the management accountable for fraud occurrences