Paper by: Norsiah Ahmad, Juahir Mohd-Nor and Norman Mohd-Saleh
Fraudulent financial reporting has become an important issue in accounting profession. The implementation of self assessment system appears as incentives to companies to misstate their financial reports to reduce tax obligation. Fraudulent financial reporting may cause vast losses to government income, as well as losses to the users of financial reports. This study examines the relationship between fraudulent financial reporting and firms’ characteristics that are size, types of ownership and types of auditor in companies audited by Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB). This study uses political cost theory to explain fraudulent financial reporting in companies. The study found that company size and audit quality have significant negative relationships with fraudulent financial reporting. Findings from this study may assist IRB in identifying possible cases for audit in the future.
