Towards a 4P framework of financial statement fraud: A systematic literature review

Abstract

This study presents a systematic literature review of financial statement fraud (FSF) through the lens of a 4P framework, including Proxy, Purpose, Penalty and Provision. Analysing 622 articles, the study examines fraud proxies, thematic analysis, post‐fraud outcomes and fraud contingencies. The results reveal a lack of consensus regarding standardised measures of FSF, whereas most studies rely on ex‐post fraud proxies, which inherit contextual limitations. Similarly, thematic analysis identifies nine key themes within the FSF literature, with a significant focus on fraud detection and its determinants. The literature has also explored various post‐fraud outcomes, which can be categorised into firm losses and responses by internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, macroeconomic, behavioural, firm‐specific and governance‐related variables are used as moderators in FSF literature. Considering these insights, this research identifies six key research areas and proposes 30 research questions that future studies should address to contribute to this prominent area of research.