Asset Misappropriation
Definition
The largest Fraud Tree branch, covering schemes in which an employee steals or misuses the organisation's assets. Subcategories include cash schemes (skimming, larceny, fraudulent disbursements) and non-cash schemes (misuse of inventory, theft of intellectual property, payroll fraud). Asset misappropriation accounts for the majority of occupational fraud cases by frequency.
Related terms
- Corruption
- Schemes in which an employee misuses their position to gain a direct or indirect benefit, typically involving a third party. The four...
- Financial-Statement Fraud
- Intentional misstatement or omission in financial reports to deceive users of those reports, typically to inflate earnings, understate liabilities, or maintain a...
- Skimming
- An off-book cash theft: revenue is stolen before it enters the accounting system, so no entry is ever made. Skimming is harder...
- Forensic Accounting
- The application of accounting, auditing, and investigative skills to matters likely to be disputed in a legal or regulatory forum. The word...
- Forensic Audit
- An examination of an organisation's financial records and systems conducted specifically to gather evidence for legal proceedings. Distinguished from a regular audit...
- Fraud Examination
- The process of resolving an allegation of fraud, from initial fact-finding through evidence collection to a conclusion about what happened and who...
- Fraud Triangle
- A model, developed by criminologist Donald Cressey, proposing that occupational fraud requires three converging conditions: pressure (financial need or incentive), opportunity (a...
- Median Loss
- The loss figure at the midpoint of the distribution of cases, used in the ACFE's data because it is more representative of...
- Occupational Fraud
- The ACFE defines occupational fraud as the use of one's occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the...
- Occupational Fraud Tree
- The ACFE's hierarchical classification of occupational fraud schemes, with three top-level branches (asset misappropriation, corruption, financial-statement fraud) subdividing into dozens of named...
- Predication
- The reasonable basis that justifies opening a fraud examination. The ACFE holds that no examination should begin without adequate predication, meaning a...
- Report to the Nations
- The ACFE's biennial global study of occupational fraud, compiled from cases submitted by Certified Fraud Examiners. Each edition analyses thousands of real...
Explained in these topics
- The ACFE Fraud Tree and Occupational Fraud ClassificationThe largest Fraud Tree branch, covering schemes in which an employee steals or misuses the organisation's assets. Subcategories include cash schemes (skimming,...
- The ACFE Occupational Fraud TaxonomySchemes in which an employee steals or misuses the employing organisation's resources. The most common fraud category by frequency, encompassing cash theft, sk...
- Forensic Auditing: Definition and ScopeThe most common category of occupational fraud, covering theft or misuse of an organisation's assets. Examples include cash skimming, fictitious expense claims...