The Role of Auditors in Preventing, Detecting, and Reporting Fraud: The Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The primary objective of this study is to investigate internal and external auditor perceptions regarding their responsibilities related to preventing, detecting, and reporting fraud. Moreover, the study explores the procedures that internal and external auditors follow to detect fraud during an audit. This study features a survey of 53 auditors in the United Arab Emirates. The results indicate that internal auditors are primarily responsible for identifying incidents of fraud. The results also demonstrate that the procedures followed by external auditors are slightly more rigorous than those followed by internal auditors. The principal contribution is that internal auditors are primarily responsible for identifying fraud and are consequently more concerned about reporting incidents related to fraud. The results provide empirical support for the notion that external auditors should increase the degree to which they seek to detect and report incidents of fraud as well.