Running head: FRAUD

Fraud

Student Name

Institution Affiliation

Date
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Introduction

Ethics are essential elements in the maintenance of a business. It is the responsibility

of the authors to practice ethics in their place. Examples of ethics include honesty, integrity,

and law-abiding. However, Lenno and Yu suggest that some business experts neglect ethics

by cooking of books. The three frauds desired to meet their target within a short time.

Therefore, they practiced many fraud methodologies. They indulged in: creating false

account invoices, increasing net income, advertising faulty products, and failing to make a

report of all their expenses. All these practices are against the ethics. For example, when

Donald Sheelan becomes the CEO of the company, he desires to perform well. He

advertises the right products, but in return, he sells faulty products to the clients. It is a form

of cooking books. He later on, he becomes preoccupied with showing net-income. Instead of

correcting the frauds' occurrence, Donald approaches the press before any other fraud

examiner. He does this to clear and protect his guilt. He appoints lawyers to defend his fraud

acts but not to correct his actions. It clearly shows that negligence results in fraud issues. As

a result, Donald leads to the closure of the company.

ESM group was established to sell government security. The company was expected

to practice law-abiding as one way of practicing ethics (Borang et al., 2018). However, the

company commits fraud. It is an ethical dilemma that pops out in the videos. The ESM group

is in association with the government as their partner. The group creates a false invoice, has

improper Asset Variation, inadequate disclosure, and experiences receivable against

payment acts. As a result, the company is closed down.

In my own opinion, fraud can be prevented. I think the ESM group would have come

up with better ways of avoiding these frauds (Polyvia et al., 2018). To start, the company

would have understood the characteristics of the cons before its establishment. After
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understanding the frauds' features, the company would have identified the scams they are

likely to experience, and later on asses the scams in an appropriate manner. In essence,

these actions would have prevented the occurrence of risks.

Consequently, the company would have reported to the CFES in case of fraud

suspect. The CFES would have taken the initiative of testifying findings related to fraud. After

valid conclusions, the CFES would have discussed the appropriate documentation of the

scams. Alternatively, the company would have been concerned about human nature, as

stated by one of the videos' fraud examiners. The company would have consulted the

customers or clients to get better information on any issue related to fraud. It would have

been a better way of dealing with the issue of cooking books.

To sum, ethics are essential in a business. Honesty, integrity, and law-abiding are

core elements of ethics. The speeches of some of the fraud examiners clearly state that

there were three fraud cases. The cooking of books is a significant fraud. The companies

desired to get a greater profit in a short period. Thus, they practiced cooking books. ESM,

among other companies, were shut down due to fraud issues. However, there exist ways in

which the frauds can be prevented. It is upon a company to identify cons, assess them, and

develop strategies of dealing with them. Fraud elimination is a form of practicing integrity

within a business, leading to the growth of a business.

References

Boräng, F., Cornell, A., Grimes, M., & Schuster, C. (2018). Cooking the books: Bureaucratic

politicization and policy knowledge. Governance, 31(1), 7-26.

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Lennox, C., & Yu, Y. J. (2019). Cooking the books using different ingredients: An

examination of cash flow frauds. Working paper. University of Southern California.

Polyviou, A. (2018). Cooking the books. Good Reading, (Jul 2018), 16.
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