A Comparison of Triangle, Diamond and Pentagon Fraud Models in Fraud Risk Assessment

Fraud risk assessment is one of the most important processes that auditors do in their investigations. Hence, they should try to use appropriate models in assessing Fraud risk. In this regard, this study compares triangle, diamond and pentagon models of fraud in fraud risk assessment. Fraud triangle model introduces pressure/ motivation, opportunity and justification as dimensions of fraud. However, the fraud diamond model, in addition to the three dimensions mentioned above, considers the capability dimension to assess fraud risk. The fraud pentagon model, in addition to the four dimensions, also considers the arrogance dimension as one of the dimensions of fraud. In order to compare these models, an experimental case has been used. Analysis of variance, Tukey and Scheffe tests were used to test the research hypotheses. The statistical population of the research is the certified public accountants working in the audit organization and audit firms in year 2018 which were 1462 auditors in total. Cochran formula was used to calculate the size of sample. According to the statistical population, stratified sampling method was used. The statistical sample consisted of 252 auditors. The results show that the difference of fraud risk assessment among three models is significant. Since this study was conducted with respect to Iran's environment, it can be said that the use of the pentagon fraud model can result to a more appropriate assessment of fraud risk. Therefore, it is recommended that auditors conduct fraud risk assessment using the pentagon fraud model.