Saville, A (2003)

Using Benford's Law to predict data error and fraud. An examination of companies listed on the JSE securities exchange

E-print online. Last accessed 26Mar2015.

ISSN/ISBN: Not available at this time. DOI: Not available at this time.

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Abstract: Accounting numbers generally obey a mathematical law called Benford’s Law. The law is so unexpected that manipulators of information, such as accounting data, generally fail to observe the law. Armed with this knowledge, it may become possible to catch those companies that have been cooking the accounting books or that have presented data containing errors. This paper uses data drawn from companies listed on the JSE Securities Exchange to test the hypothesis that Benford’s Law can be used to identify false or fraudulent reporting of accounting data. The findings are thought to be of particular relevance to auditors, shareholders, financial analysts, investment managers, private investors and other users of publicly reported accounting data, such as the revenue services.

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Bibtex:
@misc{, title={Using Benford's law to detect data error and fraud: an examination of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange: economics}, author={Saville, Adrian}, year={2003}, }

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Reference Type: E-Print

Subject Area(s): Economics

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