The role and importance of forensic accounting in combating fraudulent financial reporting: A study on professional accountants

Financial information forms the basis of decision-making processes of individuals or institutions related to the business. Accurate financial information provides the basis for quality decision-making by those concerned and ensures effective resource allocation. However, inaccurate or misleading financial information reported for personal gain causes businesses to experience major economic losses. Although the diversification and proliferation of businesses and the innovations brought by technology improve business processes day by day, they create an environment ready for fraud in the business world. This situation has created many scandals in the business world and necessitated the need for new regulations and techniques. In this context, the field of forensic accounting has come to the fore. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the place and importance of forensic accounting in the fight against fraudulent financial reporting, based on the opinions of professional accountants operating in Samsun. This research, which was applied to professionals registered with Samsun Chamber of Independent Accountants and Financial Advisors, was conducted on a sample of 310 people with 15 judicial statements. 15 judicial statements are discussed under three headings: the effect of forensic accounting activities on detecting fraudulent financial reporting, its effect on preventing it, and the effect of the field information used to detect fraudulent financial reporting while conducting forensic accounting activities. Hypotheses created regarding the demographic characteristics of the survey participants and the main headings of the survey were analyzed with t-test and ANOVA test. The participants' level of agreement with the statements in the survey was examined based on four variables: gender, age, education level and professional experience. In line with the findings, there was no significant difference in the participants' judgments in terms of the gender variable; It was determined that there was a significant difference in terms of age, education level and professional experience variables. In addition, it was observed that the participants agreed with the judgments regarding the place and importance of forensic accounting in detecting and preventing fraudulent financial reporting, but were indecisive in the judgments regarding the effect of the field information used in determining fraudulent financial reporting.