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Over the past few decades, a series of fraud cases have been publicly discussed and have let to important changes in the current legislation on the matter. Indeed, cases like Enron (2001), Worldcom (2002), Madoff (2008), and lately Wirecard (2020) have had considerable impact on the current landscape of fraud. These and other matters have astonished the world as it was possible for criminals to commit fraudulent transactions in, what was believed to be, a controlled environment.

The question we can therefore raise is: where controls in place sufficient? Or if we put it differently: does a common tool exist to prevent companies from facing fraud? And if it does exist, can it be defined as a form of internal control? Therefore, this thesis is entitled “Is implementing a sloid internal control system a common and infallible approach to face fraud inside a company?” The analysis will establish the basics of a control environment and its link to prevent and detecting fraud. But it will also highlight the flaws of an internal control system and explain reasons for which fraud can occur, even in a highly controlled environment. Ans finally, additional measures are presented.

Based on the theoretical analysis and interviews that were made with experts in the control environment, our conclusion will bring forward that an internal control system is clearly the main basis for an anti-fraud policy inside a company. However, the internal procedures need to be strictly applied and the 4-eyes principle should always be a control that should affect every transaction made by the company. Furthermore, organizations should emphasize the importance of corporate governance and a clear and transparent communication on the matter towards members of the company.

fraud, occupational fraud, cybercrime, internal control, whistleblower --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit

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The economic world has been through some tough times in recent years, showing that the financial health of a company can be confronted with critical situations. Indeed, in today's environment, companies can be impacted by a multitude of factors, whether social, economic or even political.
It is then, in the face of these unforeseen events, that the going concern plays a vital role for each company. One of the actors in charge of evaluating the latter is the auditor. As the scope of intervention is very broad, we have focused more on his role as the company auditor. Indeed, in his report on the annual accounts, he is in charge of verifying the going concern assumption, with the aim of enlightening third parties on the fact that, following his report, the company will be able to continue its activity for a reasonable period, of at least one year.
The purpose of this research is to present an analysis based on the going concern assumption, to understand the impact that this assumption can have on the work and on the opinion of the auditor when the latter has to give an opinion on the continuity of the audited company.
We have looked at it from different angles, through a theoretical research on the going concern assumption and the role of the board of directors and the role of the auditor when a company is in financial difficulties. We also highlighted the methodology we have applied in order to correlate our findings with the auditors experiences through the different interviews. Our research shows that the going concern assessment is mainly based on the auditor's professional judgement. Also, we have highlighted the way incertainty can lessen during the audit and how it can impact the auditor's opinion.
The going concern forms the cornerstone of the

going concern --- audit --- belguim --- incertainty --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit

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The audit efficiency has been reconsidered since scandals came to light, such as Enron (2001) and WorldCom (2002), along with the 2008 financial crisis, which also rose awareness about the topic. Therefore, several countries have tried to establish measures in order to improve auditor independence and audit quality. 

Consequently, the European Commission, through Commissioner Barnier's impulsion, published a Green Paper in 2010, as well as a directive and a regulation in 2014, aiming to reform the audit market in the European Union. Two important measures of the regulation are the mandatory audit firm rotation every ten years and the limitation of non-audit services. Since they were brought forward, these rules have led to a lot of controversy. While some are delighted with their arrival, others are worried that they represent a danger for the audit profession.
This master thesis, entitled “To what extent would the mandatory audit firm rotation and the limitation of non-audit services improve the auditor independence and the audit quality?”, analyses theses various outlooks in order to determine threats and opportunities resulting from these two measures. In other words, this survey evaluates the real efficiency of mandatory audit firm rotation and the limitation of non-audit services in the European Union.
After clarifying different theoretical aspects, we will go deeper into the topic through interviews with auditors and specialists in order to compare the theoretical part to the field.
On the basis of theoretical and practical analysis, our findings show that these measures would have different impact on auditor independence and audit quality. On the one hand, the mandatory audit firm rotation would strengthen auditor independence but would likely reduce audit quality. Indeed, threats linked to this measure are legion and they might jeopardize audit quality. On the other hand, the limitation of non-audit services would improve both auditor independence and audit quality.

Qualité de l'audit --- Indépendance du réviseur d'entreprises --- Limitation des services non-audit --- Rotation externe obligatoire --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit

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Les fraudes en entreprise sont des phénomènes de plus en plus récurrents et trop peu de sociétés sont conscientes des risques de fraudes auxquels elles sont exposées. Ce phénomène touche les sociétés de toutes tailles et de toutes activités et peut prendre différentes formes. Ce travail va s’intéresser aux types de fraudes pouvant avoir lieu dans des sociétés du secteur de la grande distribution et les mécanismes de prévention les plus pertinents à mettre en place dans de telles entreprises. L’objectif de ce travail sera dans un second temps d’identifier les fraudes potentielles pour la société Neobulles SA, dont l’activité principale est la distribution de boissons, d’identifier les mécanismes de prévention de la fraude déjà mis en place et de proposer des outils pouvant renforcer cette prévention.

Le travail débute par une partie théorique composée d’une revue de littérature. L’objectif de cette première partie est de développer les thèmes de la fraude, sa prévention et sa détection. En effet, il est important de comprendre dans un premier temps quels sont les types de fraudes les plus courantes et les conséquences que ces fraudes peuvent avoir sur une entreprise. Le travail se poursuit par une partie pratique dans laquelle l’objectif est d’analyser le système de prévention mis en place dans la société Neobulles SA et de proposer des pistes d’améliorations de ce système via l’implémentation de nouvelles pratiques ou l’amélioration de pratiques existantes.

En conclusion de ce travail, nous pouvons affirmer que les fraudes peuvent prendre de nombreuses formes différentes et être réalisées par toute personne travaillant dans l’entreprise, des employés aux membres de la direction. Afin de prévenir la fraude de la manière la plus efficace possible, la société Neobulles pourrait tout d’abord mettre en place une gouvernance d’entreprise qui analyserait les performances de manière continue et mettrait en place des contrôles récurrents et nécessaires. Cette gouvernance pourrait, par la suite, être appuyée par une fonction d’audit interne dédiée uniquement à l’évaluation continue des risques et la recherche des mesures de prévention les plus pertinentes à mettre en place dans la société. La mise en place d’un code de conduite et d’un manuel de procédures permettrait d’avoir l’ensemble des règles de la société rédigées de manière formelle et connues par tous les employés.

Fraude --- Prévention --- ISA240 --- Audit interne --- Sciences économiques & de gestion > Comptabilité & audit