Green communication and corporate sustainability of computer aided audit techniques and fraud detection

Abstract

Fraud is prevalent in society and is increasing considerably over in recent years. Auditors have been criticized severally because they tend to reach conclusion based upon inadequate audit processes, and hence, the validity of the audit conclusion has often been questioned. This study thus sought to identify the various types of fraud encountered during financial transactions, evaluate the adoption of Computer Aided Audit Tools (CAATs) in fraud detection in an organization, appraise the impact of CAATs on performance of an organization, and ascertain the problems of CAATs' application within an organization. Data for the study was collected using a well-structured questionnaire which was distributed among 250 employees of an auditing company. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and SPSS package, and the hypothesis of the study was analysed using regression analysis. The findings of the study showed that 72.8 % of the respondents agreed that CAATs have played a major role in fraud detection, and hence can be used to curb fraud to a minimal level in organisations. It was also discovered that CAAT helped to improve the auditors' performance as corroborated by 58.1 % of the respondents. However, quiet a handful of respondents (23.0 %) were undecided in this respect as they claimed that the improved performance has been associated with much stress and pressure. Furthermore, the cost of implementing CAAT, the required skills to be acquired for its usage, and systems database requirements, were some of the problems found to be associated with the application of CAAT in organisations. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media.