Fraud Pentagon: Detection of Financial Statement Fraud in a Firm

The study examines conceptually the detection of financial statements fraud using fraud pentagon. The study discusses the relationship between fraud pentagon and financial statement fraud. The methodology adopted in this study is library research whereby relevant and extant literature related to the elements in fraud pentagon were reviewed in relation to financial statements fraud. In the search for literature, it was observed that the various elements of fraud pentagon such as pressure (financial targets, financial stability, institutional ownership and external pressure), opportunity (ineffective monitoring and nature of industry), rationalization (auditor switching and change of director), competence (the changes in the company directorship and the proportion of independent directors in the board) and arrogance (frequent number of CEO's picture and CEO duality) significantly affect financial statements fraud. This study recommends that fraud pentagon should be given the statutory support in order to address financial statements fraud. Received: 27 August 2023 / Accepted: 19 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023