Forensic Auditing as a Tool for Detecting and Prosecuting Financial Crimes in Zimbabwean State-Owned Enterprises

Résumé

State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are essential for economic development but frequently suffer from endemic corruption and financial mismanagement, particularly in developing economies where traditional auditing mechanisms fail to detect complex financial crimes.This study investigated the primary determinants of fraudulent financial reporting by empirically validating the Fraud Hexagon Theory within the distinct institutional context of Zimbabwe.Adopting a quantitative causal-comparative research design, the study utilized multiple linear regression to examine the influence of six governance indicators and analyzed data from 38 SOEs listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange between 2015 and 2024.The results demonstrated that the model explained 67.5% of the variance in fraudulent reporting, hence confirming the holistic applicability of the Fraud Hexagon Theory.Crucially, external financial pressure stemming from unsustainable debt emerged as the strongest predictor of fraud, followed significantly by collusion in government projects and executive ego.Furthermore, the findings revealed that while frequent change of directors degraded institutional memory and increased the risk of fraud, mandatory rotation of auditors acted as a significant deterrent.It was concluded that financial fraud in Zimbabwean SOEs was not merely an individual behavioral issue but a systemic outcome of unfunded government mandates and state capture.These findings suggested that safeguarding public resources necessitated a strategic shift from routine compliance to targeted forensic auditing, alongside the strict enforcement of meritocratic board appointments and transparency in the procurement process.

Citer ce document

Accès au document

Texte intégral en lecture en ligne, réservé aux abonnés SPHAERO et aux membres de l'institution. Se connecter

Auteur(s)

Statistiques

Consultations : 1

Téléchargements : 0