Promoting Forensic Litigation Supports : A New Perspective to Corporate Fraud Prevention in Nigeria

Corporate fraud prevention through forensic audits and investigations and the emergence of modern forensic audit techniques has placed corporate fraud perpetrators in a state of dilemma in recent years. However, a new perspective to corporate fraud prevention is presented in this study, which is the need to promote forensic litigation supports. This paper presents an argumentthrough the fraud triangle theory and the collectivity fraud theory that the provision of litigation supports through forensic audits and investigations in relation to corporate fraud cases is ideal for corporate fraud prevention. To support the argument, a sample of 500 respondents was drawn from the population of professional accountants and legal practitioners in Nigeria. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection and this was mailed to the respective respondents. Resulting responses were analyzed via the SPSS statistical software. The results indicate that the provision of litigation supports through forensic audits and investigations, fraud data mining and fraud data collection and presentations in court proceedings has a positive and significant impact on corporate fraud prevention in Nigeria. This study therefore recommends that regulators should promote the adoption of forensic audits and investigations in relation to existing and potential fraud cases in publicly listed firms in Nigeria, as this will help to provide reports that are acceptable in court proceedings for the purpose of prosecution.