A Model for Identifying the Factors Affecting the Demand for Forensic Auditing

Forensic audit refers to a broad method of fraud investigation. This method also defines fraud prevention activities and analysis of anti-fraud controls. Investigating fraud in order to prove or disprove its occurrence is a part of forensic accounting and it is a science that uses accounting facts and concepts collected by accounting methods to prepare techniques and solutions through which judicial problems can be solved. And the season is coming. Court accounting is very important for the judicial system; Because it provides specialized services such as evaluation of fake invoices, valuation of suspicious bankruptcies and analysis of financial documents related to fraud and fraud. The purpose of this study is to introduce a new field of accounting and auditing called forensic auditing to identify the factors affecting the demand for using the services of forensic auditors and while presenting a model for it to explain the position of this profession in the society and highlights its importance. The importance of the research is due to the fact that so far in Iran and even in other countries, no research has been done regarding the identification of factors affecting the court audit. Therefore, this research will be conducted for the first time in the country in order to introduce the factors affecting the use of the services of court auditors and take a positive action in the direction of increasing knowledge and expanding people's awareness of the services of this profession.

In this study, in the first step, using various articles and expert opinions, 120 factors affecting the demand for forensic audit were identified and using the opinions of 18 experts during 2019, the effective factors were confirmed by Delphi method and 40 factors were confirmed. In the second step of the research, 38 factors were confirmed using the Shannon quantitative entropy method and the research questionnaire based on Cochran's formula was distributed among 369 official justice experts working in Tehran province as a statistical sample. Finally, the effective factors were prioritized using the Structural Equation Method (SEM).

In this study, the factors affecting the demand for forensic audit are classified into two categories: internal and external. Internal factors include financial and transactional factors, management and personal factors, information and accounting systems factors, behavioral and ethical factors, structural and economic factors, and external factors including legal and regulatory factors, political, economic, cultural factors, auditor-related factors. Independent and factors related to judicial authorities. Among the extra-organizational factors affecting court audit, political, cultural and judicial factors are the most effective external factors with a coefficient of 0.900. The second external organizational factor affecting court audit is economic factors, which has a coefficient of 0.885. The least important extra-organizational factor is the factor related to independent auditors, which has the smallest coefficient among all effective factors with a coefficient of 5.032. Coefficients related to internal organizational factors are intuitively larger than external factors and thus have a greater impact on court audit.

Considering the high number of financial frauds in various fields, the judicial system has a very difficult task to discover and prosecute the criminals and the accused. Due to the evolution, development and progress achieved in this era, the proof of some financial issues has gained special complications and their diagnosis requires special expertise, which will clarify the truth of the matter by providing technical and specialized information. Therefore, it is very important to refer to auditing experts to conduct research and discover the truth in complex financial issues. Meanwhile, forensic accounting can help the court as a powerful arm to discover the truth and clarify the truth. The results show that among the factors affecting the demand for forensic audit, internal factors (financial and transactional factors, management and personal factors, information and accounting system factors, behavioral and ethical factors, structural factors and economic factors) compared to external factors (Legal and regulatory factors, political, economic, cultural factors, factors related to independent auditors and factors related to judicial authorities) are of higher importance. The results of this study help to identify bottlenecks in fraud and corruption and play an important role in promoting the status and importance of forensic auditing in society. Due to the increase in the rate of fraud and corruption in the public and private sector, it is suggested to take measures to prevent and detect such activities in relation to the formulation of accounting and auditing laws, regulations and standards in order to increase the responsibility of auditors in detecting corruption and fraud. Also, considering the importance of prevention and detection of corruption in the economic development of the society, it is suggested to use the valuable experiences of court auditors and university professors to compile and include courses related to court and judicial audit in university courses.