The document summarizes key findings from a study of over 1,400 occupational fraud cases from over 100 countries. It finds that the majority of fraud was committed by employees and managers, with higher levels of authority associated with greater losses. Males committed two-thirds of fraud cases, with losses over $100,000 on average. Fraudsters tended to cause more harm the longer they were with an organization, with over half employed for more than 5 years. The most common departments for fraud were accounting, operations, sales, and executive management.

1. 19%
POSITION
The majority of occupational frauds were
committed by staff at the employee or
managerial level.
EMPLOYEE MANAGER OWNER/EXECUTIVE
42% 36%
MEDIAN LOSS BY POSITION
The higher the fraudster’s level of authority,
the greater losses tended to be.
EMPLOYEE MANAGER OWNER/EXECUTIVE
$75,000 $130,000 $500,000
Our study includes demographic information
on more than 1,400 occupational fraudsters
from more than 100 countries.
GENDER
Male fraudsters
outnumbered females
two to one.
33%
MALE
67%
FEMALE
TENURE
7% of perpetrators committed fraud during
their first year on the job. 53% had been
with their organizations for more than five years.
MEDIAN LOSS BY TENURE
The longer a fraudster had worked for a company,
the more harm he or she was likely to cause.
AGE
52% of fraudsters were between 31 and 45 years old, but older fraudsters
tended to cause larger losses.
$35,000 $57,000 $90,000
$168,000 $153,000 $190,000 $200,000 $238,000
$450,000
<26 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 >60
CUSTOMER
SERVICE
FINANCE
PURCHASING
DEPARTMENT
77% of all occupational frauds
originated in one of seven organizational
departments: accounting, operations,
sales, executive/upper management,
customer service, purchasing and finance.
ACCOUNTING
OPERATIONS
SALES
ALL OTHER DEPARTMENTS
EXECUTIVE/UPPER
MANAGEMENT
17.4%
22.9%
15.3%
12.5%
11.8%
7.7%
7.2%
5.2%
MEDIAN LOSS BY GENDER
Losses attributed to males were 123% higher
than losses caused by females.
MALE
FEMALE
$83,000
$185,000
1-5 YEARS
< 1 YEAR
$51,000
$100,000
6-10 YEARS
$200,000
> 10 YEARS
$220,000
< 1 YEAR
40.7%
27.3%
25.2%
1-5 YEARS
6-10
YEARS
> 10 YEARS
6.8%
© 2014 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc. All rights reserved. “ACFE,” “CFE,” “Certified Fraud Examiner,” “Association of Certified Fraud Examiners,” the ACFE Logo and related
trademarks, names and logos are the property of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Inc., and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.
Data from the ACFE’s 2014 Global
Fraud Study, Report to the Nations
on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.
Download the full Report and view interactive
graphs at ACFE.com/RTTN.