FRAUD AT ENTERPRISES: TYPES, IDENTIFICATION CRITERIA AND CAUSES OF ITS OCCURRENCE

Abstract

The article discusses theoretical and conceptual aspects of fraud, identifies criteria for identifying and distinguishing financial and economic fraud from mistakes, and describes the essence of each criterion. With the proposed improved classification of types of financial fraud, fraud can be systematized depending on the object and subject of fraudulent actions, the nature of settlements, the method of committing fraudulent actions, and the tools used to commit fraud. The improved classification of types of financial fraud proposed in the article allows for a more detailed analysis of various aspects of fraud and their classification depending on various factors. In particular, this classification can be used to systematize types of fraud depending on the object and subject of fraudulent actions. Since fraudulent schemes in enterprises undergo constant modification due to changes in the methods of combating them and changes in legislation, for convenience in analysis, we have grouped the main fraudulent schemes according to certain characteristics. The article justifies the factors of the emergence of fraud in enterprises and improves the visualization of fraudulent elements. Among the factors and preconditions that increase the risk of financial fraud, internal and external factors can be distinguished. Internal factors include the level of effectiveness of the internal control system in the enterprise, the level of labor discipline, the organizational and legal form of the enterprise and its size, the optimality of its organizational structure, and the level of optimal distribution of management functions and powers. External factors include the economic situation in the country as a whole and the situation in the industry in which the enterprise operates, the imperfection of the existing regulatory framework that regulates the activities of the enterprise in a certain field, and so on. The article also provides statistics on fraud in Ukraine and the world, from which a conclusion can be drawn about the existence of a correlation between the level of authority of the subject of fraudulent actions and the possibility of committing fraud by them in the enterprise.