TFL Vsebine / Revija Poslovodno računovodstvo

Prevare in goljufije srečamo v poročanju medijev, na delovnem mestu, navsezadnje tudi v zasebnem življenju. Prirejanje računovodskih izkazov in gospodarski kriminal na splošno, so pogostejši v trenutkih gospodarske krize, ko podjetja posegajo po različnih metodah in tehnikah, tako da prirejajo računovodske izkaze. V tujini že kar nekaj časa pri odkrivanju nepravilnosti v računovodskih izkazih uporabljajo Benfordov zakon. Benfordov zakon lahko uporabimo kot hitri test pri preverjanju, ali so računovodski podatki zanesljivi (verodostojni) ali izmišljeni (se pravi, da je prisotna prevara). S testom lahko posumimo, ali gre za prevaro, če so prve števke porazdeljene drugače, kot bi morale biti, če bi bile res rezultat izračunov. Seveda pa za dokaz prevare na sodišču to ne zadošča, tako dobimo le osnovo za nadaljnje preiskave.

Scams and frauds are encountered in media reporting, at work, and ultimately in private life. Financial statements manipulation and economic crime in general are more frequent in times of economic crisis when companies reach for different methods and techniques to manipulate financial statements. Benford's law has been used abroad for quite some time in detecting irregularities in the financial statements. Benford's law can be used as a quick test for checking whether the accounting data is reliable (credible) or made up (i.e. a scam is present). The test can be used to suspect fraud when the first digits are distributed in a different way than they should be if they were results of calculations. Of course, this is not enough to prove fraud in the court, in this way we only get the basis for further investigations.