ANATOMY OF A NON-FINANCIAL FRAUD: VW'S DIESELGATE

摘要

An objective of this article is to present an example of how frauds that do not have a financial component can still drastically affect a company's short- and long-term financial performance. The difficulty for the external auditor is in planning an audit to detect fraud or reduce the likelihood of financial misstatement due to illegal acts when there is no obvious financial component. A lack of auditor skepticism and due professional care (PCAOB AS 1015) has been common to a number of frauds that involved collusion (e.g., Colonial Bank; WorldCom). When a company is providing a product that far exceeds the capabilities of the next best option, auditors have to "dive deeper"—they must exercise their professional skepticism. A comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the industry and the client's driving force behind profitability is vital for auditors to adequately make assessments of the risk of fraud, including non-financial fraud.