What external control mechanisms are most effective in detecting corporate fraud? To address this question we study in depth all reported cases of corporate fraud in companies with more than 750 million dollars in assets between 1996 and 2004. We find that fraud detection does not rely on one...

What external control mechanisms are most effective in detecting corporate fraud? To address this question we study in depth all reported cases of corporate fraud in companies with more than 750 million dollars in assets between 1996 and 2004. We find that fraud detection does not rely on one...

We estimate what percentage of firms engage in fraud and the economic cost of fraud. Our estimates are based on detected frauds, and frauds that we infer are started but are not caught. To identify the ‘iceberg' of undetected fraud we take advantage of an exogenous shock to the incentives for...

We provide a lower-bound estimate of the undetected share of corporate fraud. To identify the hidden part of the "iceberg," we exploit Arthur Andersen's demise, which triggered added scrutiny on Arthur Andersen's former clients and thereby increased the detection likelihood of preexisting...