Exploring the Determinants of the Effectiveness of Fraud Prevention Mechanisms in Malaysia’s Local Authorities: A Research Proposal

Abstract:

Fraud is a global issue overwhelming all aspects of human economic and business activities as it poses potential threat of financial losses. Many detection and prevention mechanisms such as internal control systems, operational audits, codes of conduct and forensic accounting have been applied in organizations aiming at effectively mitigate internal fraud activities with questionable outcomes. Instead of putting much attentions studying the effectiveness of existing fraud prevention mechanisms in mitigating the fraud but less promising outcomes, this doctoral-level research proposal explores the determinants of the effectiveness of  organizational fraud prevention programs. In doing so, the proposed study would base the exploration on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The central part of this study is to investigate the behavioral intentions as determinants following the variables of TPB. By this exploration, the potential determinants of the effectiveness of the prevention programs and how those determinants influence current practice related to the fraud prevention mechanisms could be learnt. This proposed study would be a quantitative study in which local authorities in Peninsula Malaysia will be solicited for data collection.