FORENSIC ACCOUNTING: NEEDS TO PROTECT INDIVIDUAL AND BANKS FROM ON-LINE FRAUDS

In today’s era, where every one of us is talking about digitalization on-line banking frauds can befall anyone, they can range from few thousands to lakhs of rupees. All have started using their digital mode of payment and here the chances of frauds are increasing due to lack of strong and unbreakable technical system support. Here, a forensic accounting can solve the problems of individual as well as of banks up to a certain extent. We all know that forensic accounting is an emerging discipline in response to an increase in financial crimes such as money laundering, embezzlement, bribery, bankruptcy, securities, bank fraud etc. The multi facet development of information technology has made these crimes easier and less noticeable, including banking frauds. This in turn results into increasing incidences of deceptive activities posing new challenges to the forensic accountants. In 2012 Deloitte conducted a survey on frauds which’’ revealed that banks have witnessed a rise in the number of fraud incidents in the last one year, and the trend is likely to continue soon. The survey points to the increased difficult scenario for banks with increased fraud incidents and low recoveries, thereby directly affecting their bottom-line. With increased regulatory scrutiny, banks are under increased pressure to implement best practices and fraud risk management framework, to curse the situation forensic accounting can be a helping hand. Key words: Forensic Accounting, Digitalization, on-line frauds