ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effects of forensic accounting in fraud detection. Data was collected from the staff of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) with the aid of questionnaire as the research instrument. Convenience sampling methods was applied to select 53 respondents from the population of the students on which questionnaire were administered. Fifty of the questionnaire were completed and returned. The collected data were analyzed and presented using frequency distribution tables in which simple percentages of frequency were shown. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was applied to test the stated hypotheses. The objectives of the study are; to determine the chances of fraud discovery through forensic accounting in the petroleum sector, to help in narrowing the audit expectation gap and to ascertain forensic accounting techniques like motive evidence, audit trail etc to stem the tide of financial fraud. Two theories are considered in this study; Fraud diamond and the white-collar fraudster theories. the theory of fraud diamond in place of a triangle. They argued that the diamond offers better view of the factors leading to fraud. According to them fraud diamond is the basic components that contribute to the occurrence of fraud. In other words, the fraud diamond is a triangular representation of those conditions that make fraud possible. These conditions are motive, opportunity, and rationalization. The white-collar fraudster theories set out that the following features for fraudster, likely to be married, member of a church or mosque, educated beyond high school, no arrest records, age range teens to older than 60 years. It was argued that fraud and other white-collar crimes can be brought under control by the effective use of the fraud triangle. They argued that the fraud triangle exposes those conditions that influence people to be engaged in fraudulent practices. It serves as an effective fraud prevention measure as it helps to eliminate the causes of fraud by mitigating the effect of motive, opportunity and rationalization. The study found that there is need to understanding the legal elements of fraud and other financial crimes in order to ascertain fraud, every organization’s financial statements should be reviewed for indicators of financial fraud and other related problems and there is need for the management of organizations to have knowledge in finance and accounting related cases. Some of the recommendations of the research work are; the role of forensic accountants must be recognized in every organization, critical thinking, unstructured problem solving,investigative flexibility, analytical proficiency, and legal knowledge are more important skills of forensic accountants and there is need for a statutory law recognizing the role of forensic accountant in both government and private organizations.