Auditing Cases 6th Edition by Mark Beasley,Frank Buckless,Steven Glover,Douglas Prawitt

Exercise 3

Three conditions are often present when fraud exists. First, management or employees have an incentive or are under pressure, which provides them a reason to commit the fraud act. Second, circumstances exist - for example, absent or ineffective internal controls or the ability for management to override controls - that provide an opportunity for the fraud to be perpetrated. Third, those involved are able to rationalize the fraud as being consistent with their personal code of ethics. Some individuals possess an attitude, character, or set of ethical values that allows them to knowingly commit a fraudulent act. Using hindsight, identify factors present at Xerox that are indicative of each of the three fraud conditions: incentives, opportunities, and attitudes.