Pass the ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner CFE-Financial-Transactions-and-Fraud-Schemes Questions and answers with CertsForce

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: Horizontal analysis evaluates financial statement items over multiple periods, highlighting percentage changes from one period to another. This helps detect unusual trends or anomalies.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A – Describes vertical analysis (common-size statements).

B – Describes ratio analysis.

D – Describes benchmarking/comparative analysis across companies.

Key Concept: Analytical procedures – horizontal vs. vertical and ratio analysis.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: Blank plastic cards are a common basis for counterfeit card production. Fraudsters encode stolen magnetic stripe or chip data onto blank cards.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A – False; holograms are designed to be difficult to reproduce.

B – False; high-speed printers and embossers make counterfeiting easier, not harder.

D – Incorrect, since A and B are false.

Key Concept: Counterfeit card fraud methods.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:This statement is True. Fraud examiners often analyze purchases by vendor to detect schemes where a single vendor receives disproportionately favorable treatment. This may indicate kickbacks, conflicts of interest, or vendor collusion schemes.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

B. False – Incorrect, as vendor analysis is a valid tool to identify such schemes.

Key Concept:Purchases by vendor analysis as a fraud detection method.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:Insider cyberfraud thrives in environments where monitoring is weak. If access logs are not reviewed, malicious activity can go undetected, enabling fraud.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

B. Programs run during business day – Normal IT operations, not a fraud risk.

C. Restricted access – This is a preventive control, not a facilitator.

D. Separation of duties – Strong control, prevents insider fraud.

Key Concept: Conditions facilitating insider cyberfraud.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:Best practice is to minimize collection of sensitive data such as government identification numbers, only obtaining them when legally required. This reduces the risk of identity theft exposure in case of a breach.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Use government IDs as employee IDs – Increases risk of exposure, not prevention.

B. Audit information practices only when required – Insufficient; audits should be regular and proactive.

C. Use encryption only for external transfers – Encryption should always be applied, not selectively.

Key Concept: Identity theft prevention for businesses.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:This statement is True. Asset misappropriations reduce the organization’s assets. In double-entry accounting, a decrease in assets without a corresponding decrease in liabilities results in a reduction of owner’s equity. Therefore, fraud not only depletes assets but also indirectly reduces equity.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

B. False – Incorrect because asset theft clearly reduces net assets and thereby equity.

Key Concept:Impact of Asset Misappropriation on the accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:Employees involved in bribery or corruption schemes often exhibit lifestyle red flags such as gambling habits, drug/alcohol addiction, or extravagant spending. These behaviors create financial pressures that may motivate or result from corrupt activity.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A, B, C individually – Each is a red flag, but the most accurate answer is all of the above.

Key Concept:Behavioral red flags in corruption cases.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: Departures from GAAP may be justified if compliance produces misleading results, if the transaction is immaterial, or if the costs exceed benefits. However, simply departing from GAAP because assets would be understated and liabilities overstated is not an acceptable reason; GAAP requires faithful representation even if results are unfavorable.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A – Cost-benefit considerations are valid grounds in practice.

C – Materiality is a recognized exception to strict GAAP application.

D – Preventing misleading statements is a valid justification.

Key Concept: GAAP exceptions are limited to cost-benefit, immateriality, and preventing misleading reporting.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:This statement is True. Statistical sampling allows fraud examiners to make inferences about an entire population based on a representative sample. By calculating occurrence rates, they can estimate error rates and assess the likelihood of fraud in the larger dataset.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

B. False – Incorrect because statistical sampling is explicitly designed to estimate population-level characteristics.

Key Concept:Sampling in fraud examination — predicting occurrence and error rates.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: In the procurement cycle, the post-award and administration phase involves the actual performance of contractual duties by the awarded contractor(s) and monitoring by the procuring entity. This is consistent with procurement process descriptions in the Fraud Examiners Manual (2020).

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

B – Needs identification occurs in the presolicitation phase, not solicitation.

C – In presolicitation, the entity defines needs; contractors submit bids during the solicitation phase.

D – The solicitation document is issued during the solicitation phase, not evaluation.

Key Concept: Understanding procurement phases to detect fraud opportunities (e.g., bid rigging, kickbacks).