Journal of Critical Reviews

ISSN- 2394-5125 Vol 7, Issue 11, 2020

STRATEGIC APPROACHES OF INTERNAL AUDITORS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD

Manuelito C. Macailao
College of Business and Management, Isabela State University
Cauayan City, Isabela, Philippines
manuelito.c.macailao@isu.edu.ph

Received: 08.03.2020 Revised: 16.04.2020 Accepted: 06.05.2020

Abstract
Positioned in the organizational structure to provide value-adding services in helping the management in attaining their goals and
objectives, internal auditors experienced challenges in which they implement strategic approaches in assessing and investigating
occurrences of occupational fraud. The researcher followed a descriptive phenomenological method of inquiry to better understand the
challenges and coping strategies of purposively interviewed fifteen (15) internal auditors on occupational fraud. Transcribed responses
of the participants disclosed significant statements that were grouped into themes. The initial 3 themes pertained to the challenges
encountered by the internal auditors: (1) The Experienced Personal and Social Threats; (2) The Fraud Style and Techniques of the
Perpetrators, and; (3) The Organizational Barriers to Internal Audit Activities. The last 3 themes are associated to the coping strategies
employed by the internal auditors to address the challenges of occupational fraud: (4) Strengthening the Personal Attributes of the
Internal Auditors and their Professionalism; (5) Proper Coordination and Collaboration of Audit Works, and; (6) The Ultimate Remedy of
Internal Auditors. With appropriate personal and professional attributes; sufficient technical and technological skills; ethical, functional,
and administrative support of the top management, and; proper coordination of audit activities with the audit team, legal officers, and
other fraud experts, internal auditors are capable of providing services to the organization. Otherwise, internal auditors are guided by
the international audit standards to withdraw or resign from the audit engagements.

Keywords: challenges, coping strategies, internal auditor, occupational fraud, perpetrators

© 2020 by Advance Scientific Research. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31838/jcr.07.11.05

INTRODUCTION
Internal auditors are uniquely positioned in the organization to
provide value-adding services and help the enterprises in
attaining their goals and objectives [1]. They are expected to
uphold ethical standards such as integrity, confidentiality, and
competency [2]. A study showed that their technical knowledge,
skills, and proficiency are essentials to the performance of
internal audit activities [3]. The role of the internal auditors also
includes continuous intervention and assessment of internal
control mechanisms to address risks that could affect the
achievement of the company’s objectives.
A study also showed the increasing involvement of the internal
auditors in strategic planning of the organization and in training
the personnel and audit committee members and they have been
valued as business partners, a catalyst for change, and a pool for
future business managers [5] even if the audit remuneration has
minimal or negative relations to the audit risk and the type of
auditor [4]. The presence of functions of internal auditors in the
enterprise leads to the increased perceived value of the company
in carrying out control operations. And reciprocally, key
organizational controls and risk management processes
disclosed the strongest relationship to well-configured internal
audit activities [6] as well as the improvement of corporate
governance by which the combination of laws, rules, and
processes affecting the business are being controlled, operated,
and regulated [7].
With the increasing number of fraudulent activities that pose a
tremendous threat to organizations of all types and sizes [8],
internal auditors have been demanded to assist the management
in improving control systems. Taking into account international
audit standards [9]; having professional competence
characterized by knowledge, skills, and qualities necessary in the
conduct of audit activities [10], and; being in proximity to the
inner workings of the organization, the internal auditors are in
the best position in knowing and understanding the process, the
systems, the people and culture, and the opportunities to
determine the reliability, reality, and integrity of the operation
and financial information in assisting the organization in
assessing and investigating occurrences of fraud [11].
Among the different types of fraud that the organization might
encounter, occupational fraud is the most predominant threat
[8]. Redefined as economic crime, occupational fraud is a
fraudulent act committed against the company in the course of
one’s occupation [12]. The most dollar loss to organizations is
financial statement fraud, the most numbered case is asset
misappropriation, and the most common global fraud scheme is
corruption [8]. The occupational fraud scheme is mostly
uncovered by anonymous tips provided by the employees of the
victim organizations, followed by the conduct of internal audit
activities [8].
As such, occupational fraud has been considered a demand for
assurance opportunities for internal auditors. Being encouraged
to have sufficient knowledge on fraud [13], the study explored
the internal control framework in managing occupational fraud
and cited that internal auditors are needed by the organizations
to objectively assess any unfavorable circumstances detrimental
to the achievement of goals and objectives [14]. With this, the
research focused on describing and understanding the challenges
and strategic approaches of the internal auditors in assessing and
investigating occupational fraud.
RESEARCH METHODS
The researcher followed the descriptive phenomenological
approach of Moustakas and detailed by Creswell to better
understand the challenges and strategic approaches of the
internal auditors in handling occupational fraud [15]. Within the
number range of participants recommended by Polkinghorne for

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 STRATEGIC APPROACHES OF INTERNAL AUDITORS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD
a qualitative study, the researcher purposively interviewed
fifteen (15) internal auditors from Austria, EEMEA Region,
Indonesia, Kuwait, Nigeria, USA, and the Philippines through
electronic mail platform [16].
In proper approach and for ethical consideration, the researcher
explained to the participants the relevance of the study, their
participation is voluntary, their identity is kept confidential, and
their shared information shall be exclusive for research
purposes. The interview protocol was self-made and not
standardized thus, it was presented to and validated by the panel
of experts on a qualitative study such as the research adviser and
the dissertation committee for graduate studies covering the two
central questions:
1. What are the challenges encountered by the internal auditors
in assessing and investigating occupational fraud?
2. How did the internal auditors cope with the challenges of
occupational fraud?
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The interviewed participants are from the global region (54%),
from the Asia Pacific (13%), and from the Philippines (33%).
The majority are male (53%), 27% were audit staff, 13% were
audit supervisor, 47% were audit managers, and 13% were chief
audit executives. The transcribed electronic responses were
analyzed and revealed significant statements which were
grouped into six themes. The initial three themes related to what
are the challenges encountered by the internal auditors on
occupational fraud: (1) the experienced personal and social
threats of the internal auditors; (2) the fraud styles and
techniques used by the perpetrators, and; (3) the organizational
barriers that significantly affects the internal audit activities.
Further, the last three themes are associated to the coping
strategies employed by the internal auditors to address the
challenges of occupational fraud: (4) strengthening the personal
attributes of internal auditors and their professionalism; (5) the
importance of collaboration and coordination of audit works,
and; (6) the ultimate remedy of internal auditors to overcome
extreme and complicated circumstances.
Textural Description. As to what are the challenges encountered
by internal auditors on occupational fraud.
Theme 1. The Experienced Personal and Social Threats
This theme focused on the conflict of interests and social threats
strongly narrated and experienced by some of the internal
auditors who have engaged in assessing and investigating
occupational fraud: "I have experienced investigating fraud
related to job position which has been previously offered" (P14);
"personal matter is one of the conflicts of interest I encountered"
(P7); "I have received personal threat as well as the members of
my family" (P2); "perpetrators will try to bribe you or kill you…
my house was robbed… and the only item taken was my very
own laptop… police officers opined that the alleged robbers are
targeting my life" (P4); "I was threatened of losing my job…
disbarred from any benefits" (P1); "I have encountered the
threat of being terminated from employment" (P5, P7).
Some internal auditors have also shared in their responses the
experienced familiarity and social threats: "I have investigated
fraud involving an employee whom I have previously worked
with" (P13); "conflict includes close family ties and familiarity on
end-users" (P2); "the internal auditor has a personal
relationship with the persons involved in the fraud" (P6); "I was
threatened of non-appreciation… social isolation and extortion"
(P1); "threat of being disproved and counter attacked by several
fraudsters" (P11). Below are the summarized significant
statements relayed by the internal auditors.
- Conflicting personal interests
- A threat to personal security
Journal of Critical Reviews
- Threat on the security of family members
- Being threatened on termination from employment
- Familiarity on personnel and work process
- Peer isolation and extortion
- The threat of being disproved or counterattacked
Inherent to the functions of internal auditors are the challenges
encountered by the participants in assessing and investigating
occupational fraud. At any point in time, internal auditors may
experience a conflict of interests, coercion or threats for the
reason that the circumstances they are dealing with involve
behavioral adversities. A study showed that fraud is most likely
committed by persons who are pressured or motivated to
commit the act, having an opportunity and capacity to execute
the action, and able to rationalized his wrongdoings.
Theme 2: The Fraud Style and Techniques of the Perpetrators
Some participants have also cited experienced challenges on the
characteristics, styles, and techniques used by the fraudsters in
committing and concealing fraudulent activities: "I considered
fraudsters as an expert one… they are very intelligent enough to
commit and conceal fraud" (P8); "concealing fraud is a unique
ability of the fraudster" (P7); "the challenges we have
encountered… those technologies used by the fraudster that any
auditor have never worked with, encountered, or dealt in their
entire audit career" (P12); "the challenge I encountered is the
style or uniqueness of fraud" (P14); "strategies of fraudsters vary
from time to time" (P6); "connivance or collusion among the
employees is the most challenging technique I encountered"
(P15); "I encountered lack of sufficient transaction trail… with
collusion to the third party" (P11); "the challenge… collusion and
concealment of facts, documents, and workflow procedures...
misleading, invalid or incomplete information" (P1);
"substitution and amendments in the documents… alteration or
false reporting of transactions" (P2); "perpetrator tries to delete
electronic files or burn documents to get rid of related data" (P4).
Significant statements are as follows.
- Knowledge and expertise of the fraudster
- Technologies used by the fraudster
- Methods or means of concealment of fraud
- Connivance or collusion among the employees or other
perpetrators
- Absence or misleading information
- Alteration, substitution, or amendments of physical or
electronic documents
- Deletion of electronic files or burning of physical documents
In an environment that is becoming more complex, perpetrators
can develop new instruments and schemes [18]. They will never
hesitate to exploit any loopholes in the information technology
[19], manipulate weaknesses in the organization [20], and
connived with other perpetrators and concealed crimes through
creation, alteration, or destruction of documents [21].
Theme 3: The Organizational Barriers to Internal Audit Activities
Aside from the fraud cases, participants have conveyed in their
responses other issues or factors in the organizations that also
challenge the internal auditors in their conduct of audit
engagements: “organizational culture is one of the factor
particularly the working relationship of auditors to the to higher
management” (P1); “most companies tend to conduct internal
investigation and settlement to protect self-image and fear of
public scandal” (P6); “fraud cases are suppressed because these
type or report gives bad reputation” (P12); “it is hard to
convince top management without definitive evidence” (P10);
“fraudster is either a family member or a very close friend of the
internal auditor” (P12); “organizational resistance to changes
hinders audit activities” (P1); “head of internal audit collaborates
with perpetrators or people with influence” (P1); “involvement
of internal audit personnel to the fraudulent transaction” (P13);
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 STRATEGIC APPROACHES OF INTERNAL AUDITORS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD
“the mandate or instruction of superior hinders audit activities:
(P7); “top management influence the direction and outcome fo
the audit engagement” (P10); “higher authorities coerced
auditors to come up with predefined audit findings” (P12).
Herewith is the summary of significant statements.
- Organizational culture
- Consanguinity or affinity relationships
- The resistance of the organization to changes
- Involvement of the auditor on a fraudulent transaction
- Adverse mandates or instructions of audit superiors
- Undesirable influence of top management
- Coercion of higher authorities to audit findings and
recommendations
Like in any business enterprise, it is the top management who
play the most crucial and significant role towards the attainment
of the objectives of the organization [7]. No matter how
competent and skillful are the internal auditors, their
professionalism and overall performance still depend on the top
management for they are still the individuals who work
internally within the organization. They may be uniquely
positioned in the organization still, they are obliged to follow the
same rule as mandated to other employees. As such, they are
still affected by the nature of business integrity, organizational
culture, and tone from the top. Thus, ethical values and
trustworthiness among the employees rely on the integrity of the
top management. The credibility and trustworthiness of top
executives help improve the overall perception and morale of the
employees on prevention, detection, or minimization of fraud
[22].
Structural Description. As to how the internal auditors coped
with the challenges of occupational fraud.
Theme 4: Strengthening the Personal Attributes of the Internal
Auditors and their Professionalism
This theme focused on the personal characteristics of internal
auditors in coping with the challenges in assessing or
investigating occupational fraud schemes. As the participants
expressly narrated: "when facing extortion… I maintain diligence
in a situation where I will be safe… I also maintain objectivity and
confidentiality" (P1); "I maintain personal integrity… keeping in
mind those factors or circumstances that may bring shame or
dishonor to my profession… I have to stay strong and hold on to
principles of integrity and professionalism" (P4); "the only
person who can identify any conflict of interest is the auditor
himself…we are always reminded to maintain honesty and
transparency" (P15); "to cope with the threat of being disproved,
I have to diligently gather sufficient evidence" (P11); "I faced
challenges… being cautious to every detail of information and
actions" (P5); "I remain focused on facts… and do not make
assumptions" (P9); "I have learned and maintained to be
skeptical" (P3); "the ability to be tactful, courteous, respectful,
mindfulness, and flexible… being candid and fair… are extremely
important" (P12); "ability to assess and recognize fraud… is very
helpful" (P8); "auditors are encouraged to think ahead and keep
on embracing the changing styles and techniques of the
fraudsters” (P15). Below is the summary of the significant
statements.
- Maintain professional diligence and integrity
- Maintain objectivity and confidentiality
- Hold to principles of professionalism
- Maintain honesty and transparency
- Being prudent or cautious to every detail of facts and
information
- Do not make assumptions
- Maintain skepticisms
- Being tactful, courteous, respectful, mindfulness, and flexible
- Being candid and fair
- Able to assess and recognize fraud
Journal of Critical Reviews
- Able to embrace the changing styles and techniques of the
fraudsters
Being said, internal auditors are often the business partners of
the management in providing value-adding services in ensuring
the attainment of their objectives [5]. They are distinctively
positioned in the organizational structure [1] to help the
management in preventing or mitigating occurrences of fraud.
They also faced several challenges in assisting with the
management in assessing or investigating occupational fraud. As
such, internal auditors are advised to uphold integrity, honesty,
diligence, and confidentiality necessary to conduct internal audit
activities [2]. They are also encouraged to have sufficient
knowledge of the circumstances that may lead to the occurrences
of fraud [13,23] and should have an attitude of professional
skepticism and reasonably observe alertness to possibilities of
any fraudulent activities [24].
Theme 5: Proper Coordination and Collaboration of Audit Works
Fraud assessment and investigation is teamwork. It is a
collaboration of audit members and coordination of audit work
to the top management and assistance from other support
groups as responded by the participants: "members of the audit
team are being evaluated" (P6); "selecting the right members of
the audit team is one of the key" (P2); "we make sure the
appropriateness of the audit team members… to come up with
the desired results" (P13); "the openness of top management…
the functional and administrative support… is of great help to the
audit team" (P8); "audit superiors are always consulted on the
progress of the audit" (P15); "I always work with lawyers or legal
officers" (P12); "I am not afraid to ask for help or support from
other fraud experts when needed" (P13). As summarized,
significant statements are the following.
- Appropriateness and relativeness of knowledge, skills, and
expertise of the members of the audit team
- Functional and administrative support of top management
- The collaboration of audit work with superiors and with the
organization's legal department
- Assistance from other fraud experts
The life and success of audit engagements depend on the
appropriateness of audit team members for they have common
and distinct skills to address the different areas of fraud schemes.
Support of the top management is also a necessity for they are
the one who provides authority and resources to the audit team.
Further, the collaboration of the audit work to audit superiors,
legal officers, and other fraud experts provide positive
attainment of audit objectives.
A study showed that the level of confidence of the internal
auditors to carry out effective audit work increases because of
the support of the top management and company executives
[25]. It is also supported by another study that the effectiveness
of internal audit activities depends on the significant relationship
between internal auditors and senior management's responses
and their awareness of the significance of internal audit
engagements [26].
Theme 6: The Ultimate Remedy of Internal Auditors
Coping with undesirable circumstances, pressures or
uncontrollable situations that may destroy the integrity,
credibility or even the life of the auditors, the participants have
courageously shared their personal and professional decisions: "I
withdraw from the engagement and ask for my
replacement…when my independence and objectivity will be
impaired" (P12, P14); "To cope with personal conflict… I
voluntarily ask for my replacement" (P7); "I withdraw from the
audit engagement… when a conflict of interest arises" (P2);
"there was an instance… I have to resign from my audit work to
get away from coercion or threats" (P5). Below is the summary
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 STRATEGIC APPROACHES OF INTERNAL AUDITORS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD
of narrated statements relating to the ultimate remedy of the
internal auditors.
- Replacement of audit team members
- Withdrawal from the audit engagement
- Resignation from audit work
Auditing standards allow internal auditors to ask for a
replacement, resign or withdraw from the audit engagement
particularly if their integrity, independence, and objectivity are
impaired or any untoward circumstances or limitations that may
seem to affect the completion of fraud investigation or
assessment. A study on the post-resignation period of the
auditors showed that the audit client is more likely involved in
litigation risks, internal control risk or business problems related
to the uncertainty of the enterprises. Auditors are also
encouraged to follow appropriate procedures for resignation and
are advised to include their reasons in the resignation letter as
applicable [27].
Overall Essence. The function of internal auditors is to provide
value-adding services to the organization in accomplishing its
goals and objectives. Because of their proximity and authorized
accessibility to the operation and financial information, they are
in the best position to render assistance in assessing internal
control, risk management, and governance processes. With
appropriate personal and professional attributes; sufficient
technical and technological skills; ethical, functional, and
administrative support of top management, and; the proper
collaboration of audit activities with the audit team, legal officers,
and other fraud experts, internal auditors are capable to serve
the organization as business partners in helping the management
in preventing, assessing, and investigating occupational fraud.
CONCLUSION
Often been the primary person within the organization that is
usually being asked every time there is an alleged or actual
occurrence of fraud, internal auditors are sought and demanded
to assist in assessing and investigating occupational fraud.
Inherent to the functions of helping the management are the
challenges being faced by the internal auditors in providing
services to the organization which includes among others, audit
limitations and threats. As such, strategic approaches are being
employed by the internal auditors to cope with the complexities
of any unfavorable circumstances that may arise in the course of
performing internal audit activities. Otherwise, internal auditors
are guided by the international audit standards to withdraw or
resign from the audit engagements.
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