The embezzlement of funds from organizations is often orchestrated through fictitious accounts payable and related cash disbursement transactions. The AuditNet online resource center for auditors includes information about typical accounts payable fraud techniques. Visit www.auditnet.org and select the link for “Virtual Library” to search for a two-part series article “Ten Ways to Identify Accounts Payable Fraud.” Read both Part 1 and Part 2 of this article to answer the following questions.

Required
a. What contributes to the risk that entities fail to detect duplicate payments to vendors?
b. What techniques might help detect duplicate payments?
c. How can applying Benford’s law help detect fraudulent accounts payable transactions?
d. What techniques can be used to identify fraudulent transactions that are just below amounts for required approvals?
e. What techniques might help detect fictitious vendors in the vendor master file that might result in unauthorized payments being sent to employees?