Occupational Fraud A Glance At Asset Misappropriation...

II. OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD – A glance at Asset Misappropriation and other types of organisational fraud Now that we have tolerably defined ‘fraud’, we can move on to explain ‘Occupational Fraud’ which is an internal fraud i.e. generally committed by employees/members associated with an organisation, and more closely related to corporate governance. Occupational Fraud is defined as: â€Å"The use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources or assets.† Fraud constitutes a purposeful disregard for the system and a deliberate attempt to violate that system for personal gain, and most companies’ systems are not designed to stop this. Occupational fraud is a universal problem for businesses around the globe. Any company or establishment that employs personnel to conduct its business is exposed to the possibility of occupational fraud. In the ACFE 2014 report on occupational fraud, it was reported that privately owned and publicly traded organizations accounted for approximately two-thirds of the victims in the cases reported to ACFE. Hence, organisations are extremely susceptible to the risk of fraud. Occupational fraud can cover an assortment of actions or deeds by personnel of an organisation which could be top-ranking executives, managers, employees or even non-employees. The nature of misuse or misapplication of assets can range from well-executed scams involving millions of dollars