Talking about cases of fraud within the company, of course, has happened a
long time ago, and there are still things that happen to this day. You must
already know the meaning and definition of fraud is cheating. Because it
refers to a criminal act with the aim of benefiting the perpetrator
regardless of the loss of the other party.
If fraud occurs on a corporate scale, fraud is clearly a crime related to
finance. Not only happens in private companies or small-scale businesses,
fraud within companies can even occur in government agencies.
Wait, isn't that a corruption case? Does this mean that corruption can also
be considered as a type of fraud in the company?
Factors That Cause Fraud in Companies
In order to better understand how the fraud case in a company looks like,
you need to know in advance about the definition, types, and causes of
fraud, including studying the basic indications of fraud.
If so, then next you need to know the various factors that can trigger fraud
in a company or organization.
Remember, every crime does not just happen. There will always be things that
motivate someone or a group of people to commit misappropriation of company
funds. Anything? Here are some of them:
Experiencing Pressure
The first factor that triggers the occurrence of fraud in the company is the
pressure faced by the perpetrators. The pressure here, of course, varies,
not just economic.
As you know, in a bad economic condition like the current
Covid-19 pandemic, there are many people who need large amounts of money to
meet their daily needs.
When the income earned is less, the perpetrators are finally desperate to
misappropriate funds in the company's financial statements in order to
enrich themselves through shortcuts.
However, according to Fuad (2015), there are four general conditions that
trigger a person to be under pressure and desperate to commit fraud, namely
financial problems, pressure from the environment, personal needs, to
financial desires.
Finding Opportunities
If you think that the perpetrators of fraud in a company or organization are
people who have previously had bad qualities, then you are very wrong. The
misappropriation of funds was actually triggered by the wide open
opportunities.
There is an opportunity to make people who initially work
professionally tempted and end up trapped in committing fraud without logic.
Usually, opportunities or opportunities arise because financial control
within a company is very weak. But it can also happen when those in power in
terms of finance abuse their authority and are used to defrauding financial
statements.
Opportunities that are constantly open make the number of frauds
committed even greater and eventually the company goes bankrupt.
An Act of Rationalization
There are so many fraud perpetrators who seem not to have made a big
mistake. This happens because the perpetrators judge that the fraudulent
actions and financial fraud that they do are justifiable.
Usually, this condition is experienced by actors with high positions, who
feel that they are highly trusted by the company, so they look for excuses
to protect themselves as much as possible.
Not only in terms of company finances, this rationalization is also shown
through behavior.
For example, it is natural for the Director of Finance to
bring a number of company assets because he is the brother of the CEO of the
company.
This fraudulent action is carried out to make the children happy, for
example. It is predictable that this rationalization action will harm the
fraud victim.
Weak Laws
Even though the danger of fraud is enormous, why does the number of criminal
acts seem endless? Apparently, one of the contributing factors is a weak
legal bond.
Just look at how corruptors, bribers, false statement givers,
and users of company assets can walk freely without feeling guilty?
All of this happened because all legal snares from acts of fraud in this
country are very easy to lighten. Imprisonment for only a few years and
fines of tens of millions of Rupiah can certainly be fulfilled easily by the
perpetrators and then breathe free air again.
Human Traits
The last thing that causes the next fraud is the bad nature of every human
being. Sometimes a person does have a greedy nature.
Even though they have a lot of money, they still easily commit fraud. In
fact, the type of fraud that occurs is not just a misappropriation of funds,
but to the point of being free to use company assets, even releasing false
statements.
Through the various factors above, it doesn't seem strange if in the end
cases of fraud within the company are still high. Of course, awareness from
all parties is needed as well as a very heavy legal snare, so that there are
no more fraudsters who harm the business.
