Rethinking the periodic audit model; a thought about forensic accounting

Abstract

Amidst various concerns about the fidelity of the periodic audit model as an assurance tool for establishing reliability of information, this paper seeks to provide a different dimension to the periodic audit model that may rebuild trust in it as an efficient tool for attesting information reliability. It explores a number of literatures to establish the weaknesses of audit as a fraud control mechanism and adopts a case to prove the potency of forensic accounting as a more viable tool for unveiling fraud. The combination of forensic accountant and an auditor working in an audit team under the guise of periodic audit should reduce if not completely eliminate fraud and other financial crimes. However the appointment and remuneration of the forensic accountant should be under a different authority, say the state. The paper encourages some reflections on an alternative practice of auditing given the increasing criticism of the long established accounting practice.