The Cycle of Frauds and Conditions Increasing Their Risk

The article presents the analysis of the main stages of fraud life cycle: intension, preparation, implementation, detection or not detection, estimation and prevention. The conditions of fraud appearance are various. The article explores the seven main groups of conditions that increase the fraud risk: 1) organization's leaders competency and their management style; 2) staff and their skill levels; 3) organizational structure of enterprise; 4) financial state of the organization; 5) organization's operations and execution; 6) accounting, auditing and internal control system; 7) external economic factors. This classification helps the leaders of organizations, accountants, internal and external auditors to find frauds easier, explain their reasons and evaluate their influence on business results.