Explaining the audit components of identifying money laundering in banks with the Delphi method and ranking them with the Analytical Hierarchy Process

Money laundering is a way to bring illegal money from criminals into the legal economic system. The methods of money laundering in the banking system are very different. The smurfing method, the use of rental accounts, the use of bank safe deposit boxes and many other cases are among the money laundering methods in the banking system. Banks should develop appropriate mechanisms to prevent money laundering. Auditing can be a useful control mechanism. The purpose of this research is to identify the audit components in the detection of money laundering in banks, which ultimately determines the importance of the relevant factors. For this purpose, the Delphi method was used to identify the components and the Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to rank them. In these methods, the opinions of 10 experts familiar with the subject, who were mainly working in the audit and money laundering department of banks, were used. Kappa index and opinions of two professional evaluators were used for the final verification of the components. Finally, Delphi and Kappa findings identified 6 main components and several sub-components for each component. Matrix calculations also showed that environmental components, legal components, compliance test components, content test components, internal audit components and risk management components are more important in identifying money laundering. Therefore, money laundering needs extensive structural reforms in the political, economic and cultural environment of the society. This research provides instructions to money laundering stakeholders in reducing money laundering in banks in the current situation. Improving the environment and laws should be part of the main anti-money laundering programs.