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Staff Auditor Embezzlement at a Small Client

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Maxwell and Company: Staff Auditor Embezzlement at a Small Client

1. Anna Thomas committed a fraudulent act by making personal charges and cash withdrawals on Rusher Automotive’s credit card. The accounting profession believes there are three conditions necessary for fraudulent behavior. (See Statement on Auditing Standards No. 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit. For additional explanation, you may want to review Buckhoff [2001].)
a. List the three elements and discuss how each of these elements is present in Anna Thomas’ fraud at Rusher Automotive.
The three elements of fraudulent behavior are pressure, opportunity and rationalization, all of which were present in Anna Thomas’ fraud at Rusher Automotive. Pressure stemmed from debt obligations, family responsibilities, and a self-created image responsibility related to being known as a professional accountant. The element of opportunity stemmed from the fact that she was the only staff accountant assigned to Rusher Automotive, performing several accounting functions that were not reviewed by either Allen Rusher or Jerry Maxwell; i.e. no segregation of duties or checks and balances. In regards to rationalization, it would seem that Anna rationalized her behavior in several ways. First, she felt that she “rightfully deserved” respect for being a public accountant, meaning that she potentially believed she was above those in the community and therefore entitled to living a life of luxury. Next, because Mr. Rusher was so pleased with her performance that he quit reviewing her work and completely trusted her, this could lead her to believe that she had earned the right to make cash withdrawals and personal charges on Mr. Rusher’s credit card. In addition, because she felt she was underpaid compared to others in the industry at large accounting firms, she probably believed she was entitled to

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