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

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:Accrual basis accounting requires revenues and related expenses to be recorded in the same accounting period. This is known as the matching principle, ensuring accurate measurement of income.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Equity – Not relevant to matching expenses.

C. Expense – A category of cost, not a principle.

D. Financial record – Too general.

Key Concept:Accrual Accounting & Matching Principle.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:This statement is False. Shrinkage is a general term for unaccounted-for inventory losses, and it can indeed result from theft, errors, damage, or waste. To say shrinkage does not result from theft is misleading because theft is one of its primary causes.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. True – Incorrect, as theft is often a major contributor to shrinkage.

B. False – Correct, since shrinkage can include theft.

Key Concept:Shrinkage includes theft as a cause of unexplained inventory loss.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:The phases of the bidding process include:

Presolicitation (need recognition/specification stage),

Solicitation (inviting bids),

Submission (vendors submit bids).There is no standard phase called Postsolicitation.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Presolicitation – Valid phase.

C. Solicitation – Valid phase.

D. Submission – Valid phase.

B. Postsolicitation – Not recognized as a formal bidding stage.

Key Concept:Bidding process phases — presolicitation, solicitation, submission.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:Bid pooling occurs when vendors collude to divide contracts among themselves. They agree in advance who will submit the lowest bid for certain contracts, ensuring each participant gets a share of the business.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Bid opening – The formal process of opening bids, not fraud.

B. Fictitious bidding – Not a standard fraud term.

D. Bid log – A record of submitted bids, not a scheme.

Key Concept:Bid pooling — collusion among vendors in bid-rigging schemes.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: A disproportionate increase in COGS without a corresponding increase in sales is a red flag for inventory theft or misappropriation. Theft reduces ending inventory, which artificially inflates COGS, while sales remain unchanged or grow modestly.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A – Warranty liabilities affect expenses, not COGS.

B – Fewer sales would reduce both revenue and COGS proportionally, not cause a large disparity.

C – Sales returns reduce revenue, not inflate COGS.

Key Concept: Using analytical review to detect inventory theft via COGS anomalies.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer: EFT fraud involves the unauthorized transfer of money from victims’ accounts using stolen access credentials. A hacker using stolen log-in details to redirect funds is the textbook example.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A – Describes identity theft/credit card fraud, not EFT fraud.

C – Describes skimming of card data, not EFT.

D – Describes payroll fraud, not EFT.

Key Concept: EFT fraud = unauthorized access to electronic banking/payment systems.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From the ACFE Financial Transactions and Fraud Schemes Manual

The ACFE Fraud Examiners Manual (2020 International Edition), under the section on Information Security in Electronic Commerce Systems, describes the three primary security goals that must be achieved to protect users and account holders:

Confidentiality

Integrity

Availability

These three goals form the cornerstone of information system protection and are often referred to as the CIA triad.

1. Confidentiality

Confidentiality ensures that sensitive information is accessible only to authorized individuals. The Manual highlights that e-commerce systems must protect customers’ personal and financial data from unauthorized access.

2. Integrity

Integrity requires that the information in the system is accurate and has not been improperly altered. This prevents fraudulent manipulation of records, transactions, and account balances.

3. Availability

Availability ensures that systems and data are accessible to authorized users when needed. This includes preventing disruptions caused by system failures, denial-of-service attacks, or internal sabotage.

These three goals are explicitly documented in the ACFE Manual as essential security requirements for safeguarding electronic financial systems.

Why Option C is the Correct Answer

“Penetrability of data” is NOT an information security goal.

In fact, it is the opposite of what an information security framework seeks to achieve. No section of the ACFE Manual identifies "penetrability" as a required or legitimate objective. Instead, systems should be resistant to penetration attempts.

Thus, Option C does not belong to the CIA model or any ACFE-described security framework.

ACFE Manual Reference

These concepts are covered in the Financial Transactions and Fraud Schemes section discussing information security objectives for e-commerce environments, which identifies confidentiality, integrity, and availability as the foundational goals of secure systems.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:The Asset Turnover Ratio measures how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate revenue. It is calculated as Net Sales ÷ Average Total Assets. Higher ratios indicate better efficiency.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Quick ratio – Liquidity ratio, not asset efficiency.

B. Receivable turnover ratio – Measures efficiency in collecting receivables, not overall asset use.

C. Debt-to-equity ratio – Capital structure metric, not efficiency.

Key Concept: Financial ratio analysis — asset utilization efficiency.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:The ACFE describes occupational fraud and abuse as an expense of doing business because organizations inevitably face losses from it, just as they incur other operating costs. This framing emphasizes the importance of prevention and detection to minimize this “expense.”

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Equity – Residual ownership interest, not relevant here.

B. Balance sheet – A report, not a cost.

D. Financial record – Too vague.

Key Concept:Occupational Fraud as a Cost of Business.

Detailed Explanation:

Rationale for Correct Answer:This is a Pass-through scheme, a type of Conflict of Interest under the corruption category. In this scheme, the employee sets up a shell company to act as a vendor. The shell purchases goods from legitimate suppliers and resells them to the employer at inflated prices. Pilar’s actions align perfectly with this definition.

Analysis of Incorrect Options:

A. Need recognition scheme – Involves manipulating an employer’s need to justify a purchase, not reselling via a shell.

B. Pay and return scheme – A fraudulent disbursement scheme where overpayments are made and refunds diverted. Not applicable here.

D. Cash larceny scheme – Involves theft of incoming cash, unrelated to vendor fraud.

Key Concept: Pass-through scheme (Conflict of Interest within Corruption).