3: How Fraud Offenders Rationalize Financial Crime

Fraud and related financial crime is a pervasive organizational problem, placing a substantial impost on business activity. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) (2018) estimates that globally, organizations lose about 5 percent of their revenue annually to fraud. Fraud also has serious implications for employee morale, business relations, reputation and brand strength, relations with regulators, and share price (Couch 2017; PricewaterhouseCoopers 2018). Furthermore, fraud appears to be on the rise (PricewaterhouseCoopers 2018), particularly in the area of cybercrime. Policymakers, legislators, and organizations continue to struggle to mitigate the prevalence of financial crime, highlighting the need for better access to disparate extant knowledge to inform best practice in the fight against financial crime.