Volume 2 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

Fraud in accounting, as well as falsification of financial statements, has a long history, and in recent years their scale has been growing and with much more serious consequences. Decisions made by investors and other users of financial statements based on erroneous financial information cause enormous damage to users of financial information, but also to the general public. Many major financial frauds are only detected when companies reach the point of financial collapse, in a situation where it is difficult to do something to repair major damages.

The aim of this paper is to approximate the current state of risk management in irregularities and fraud in public sector organizations. Current regulations in the field of financial management and control in the public sector in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina define the concepts of irregularities and fraud within the system of internal controls in public sector organizations, the responsibility of management and employees for reports and actions. The paper will present data from official consolidated reports on the functioning of the financial management and control system, which indicate that the management of risks of irregularities and fraud and the implementation of actions to prevent and eliminate irregularities and fraud by users are still insufficiently developed. The possible causes of such a situation will be analyzed, and possible solutions will be considered: elaboration of legal enactments and concretization of individual roles in taking actions against irregularities and fraud.

Public procurement system, which is being implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is an integrated system that includes a large number of actors. This system is described, including the identified competencies and responsibilities of all participants, by law and bylaws. And, corruption is one of the social phenomena whose definitions change in time and space. Many behaviors that are considered corruption today have been an integral part of regular behavior in the past.

This paper is dealing with the first pioneering steps to introduce continuous fraud risk assessment tools and techniques in the medium size audit clients in Montenegro. Based on the available experience and audit evidence data gathered in the period 2019 to 2021 statutory audits of medium size enterprise the clients were open and perceptive to adopt simple techniques of the continuous fraud assessment by applying the MS Excel templates. The beforementioned approach is improving the quality of internal control, lowering the levels of asset’s misappropriation, improving the quality of financial and non-financial reporting, regulatory compliance and significantly preventing illegal acts within the enterprise.

Although forensic accounting is a relatively young scientific discipline, it will certainly be one of the most sought after areas in the coming period, and it is important that activities be undertaken for its development and improvement as soon as possible.