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Introduction. The increasing awareness of financial crimes is increasing the need for forensic accountants to help detect illegal financial activity by organized crime rings, people, and businesses. No matter how much fraud actions increase, there must be a scheme to protect against it. To provide accessibility to balance and protection from illegal business acts is the chief reason why Forensic Accounting (FA) exists.

With the urgent requirement for Forensic Accounting as a tool to resist fraud, this article studies its applicability in states of opaque business practices, probes the available means that would help in introducing it to the civilization, and stains the areas where it is radically needed especially from the states of fiscal cloudiness along with opacity.

The results have been based on quantitative and qualitative studies in Lebanon for being viewed as an opaque country, sharing the exact characteristics that define nations with deceptive financial behaviour dealing with a high amount of monetary corruption such as money laundering, absence of transparency or adequate financial disclosures as well as corruption at the level of management, supervisory boards and even authorities themselves. The results of the studies show that Forensic Accounting is perceived as a way to conquer fraudulent behaviour. The majority of the respondents either or strongly agreed on the need to incorporate it in order to prevent fraud and also for detection purposes as a requirement.

However, the respondents considered this to be new in Lebanon with a maximum proportion of individuals (56.36 percent) reporting it wasn't used by Aboriginal firms due to the absence of consciousness, privacy problems, the nature and type of businesses (household businesses and SMEs), absence of advice concerning the standards (local or international) that ought to be applied and lack for appropriate regulations. Yet respondents demonstrated that a favorable attitude towards the implementation in Lebanon as tainted country. Thus with such an inviting perception amongst respondents, the issue stays in the introduction and diffusion of Accreditation Accounting. The results of the studies have supported the concept of setting a law that mandates all sectors to submit a Forensic Accounting report.

The concept of setting a law that enforces organizations to such a document was embraced by the majority of respondents who also considered that the best way of introducing this system in a state of business nation is via the educational curriculum via the graduate programs. DIFA (Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting) as well as the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) were advocated as the certifications that needs to be granted from the corrupt nations as in the case of Lebanon. Research Question and Hypotheses. The discussion of the study results are based on the research questions that investigated "To what extent is Forensic Accounting relevant? And how could it be released?" To be able to answer these questions, there is a requirement to determine if such a scheme is known at any other levels and sectors or if it is used or employed as a process by financially corrupted businesses or governmental institutions. The proposed hypotheses are analysed and evaluated according to the findings. Hypothesis 1: Countries with Opaque Business Practices Need Forensic Accounting as a Tool to Fight Fraud and Corruption. This study demonstrated that there is an eagerness to possess Forensic Accounting in financially deceptive states due to the extensive corruptive acts that are committed and still are without any observation and punishment because the fraudster consistently gets away with this due to the absence the adequate and appropriate tool to identify and discover these acts.

Hereby the desperate need to present it in nations with distinct business practices and also to create consciousness about this process in different fields and sectors mostly from the monetary fields and governmental sectors. This anti-fraud scheme was regarded as a suitable tool to resist corruption because it has the legal availability and techniques needed to disclose fraud. An additional purpose is the favorable perception towards it along with the large acceptance to implement it in financially underdeveloped nations, with a lot of encouragement to use it in institutions or companies. Hypothesis 2: Forensic Accounting isn't a Common Practice at Present. The findings suggest that Forensic Accounting is known from the states of business opacity such as Lebanon, by practitioner accountants, educators, and auditing & accounting companies.

Despite this the interviews and survey results demonstrated that this exercise is known, it is not commonly used or practiced by audit companies since it is not often requested. On the educational level, there is no emphasis on the topic from the educational systems. FA is not given as a class or as part of a class in universities curriculum. In addition, there are no certifications technical in this field such as DIFA, but there are other well-known accounting certifications, such as CPA. Therefore, what could be concluded is that there aren't any auditors or accountants, who are expert in this anti-fraud field in the states where fraudulent business practices prevail.

These nations lack the abilities that may be gotten from the educational background and the expertise gained from working in this field. Governments also needs to rigorously organize and control fiscal practices and decide on a law that mandates the submission of a FA report. It's worth mentioning, that according to the results of both quantitative and qualitative research, interviewees have a tendency to look at governments as the sector with the maximum proportion of fraud. Educational institutions may have a great impact from the adoption and implementation process. Interviewees viewed forensic accounting education as being relevant and beneficial to accounting students, the business community, the accounting profession, and accounting programs.

It's not only restricted to university programs, there is also a technical certification that's concerned in this subject, which is the Diploma in Investigative & Forensic Accounting (DIFA) program. DIFA is designed to deliver a broad array of knowledge and skills to carry out financial investigations. Worker and management fraud, theft, embezzlement, and other financial crimes are increasing, therefore accounting and auditing personnel must have skills and training to recognize those crimes. In addition, high-visibility company scandals, such as Enron and WorldCom, demonstrate the need to better prepare entry accounting graduates and practicing CPAs from the areas of fraud prevention, deterrence, detection, investigation, and remediation (Houck et al.Managements should employ their own internal controls and also to have a well-implemented company government to control the reporting.

This, in addition to the mentioned legislation that requires the submission of a report to the government will certainly put an end to any fraud. For instance, terrorists of the September 11 attacks used the international banking system to finance their actions, move money, and conceal their financing (Houck et al. This highlights the need to for investigators to understand how financial information may provide hints as to future threats. Due to these deceptive practices, public awareness of fraud and forensic accounting came to emphasize the need for professionals demonstrating the essential training and skills to feel and act at any evidence generated from information.

The following outlines the results of the polls done revealing the age group of the Lebanese respondents, their work experience, educational background, whether or not they heard about it and whether they consider it as critical in Lebanon being a nation of business opacity. Also outlined is what respondents consider as the best approach to present and implement Forensic Accounting at Lebanon. Most respondents were Lebanese, aged between 18 and 30 years old, held a Master degree and also worked at Finance with 6 years of knowledge and more. Most respondents heard and read about forensic accounting, but did not know if businesses use it, but agreed on the value of using it at Lebanon benefiting all the work fields financial institutions.

They also agreed about its own favorable advantages in supplying better future, positive effect on business, and safer business. Moreover, most respondents supported the concept of owning a law that requires all sectors to submit a FA report. It's very important to mention that 75 percent of the respondents who did not encourage this action worked in the sphere of finance. Furthermore, educational programs were considered as the best way to present Forensic Accounting (couple have given a part to governmental attempts) believing in its capacity to maintain its integrity, but maybe not in all sectors. Respondents also agreed on the importance of the certification and that DIFA diploma ought to be included in universities programs.

Finally, most respondents thought the best way to acquire FA would be to outsource audit companies that perform such services. References. Adra, J. (. Discussions About Corruption at Lebanon, personal communication. Brownsberger, W. N. (. Development and Governmental Corruption, the Journal of Modern African Studies, 21, 215-233. Houck, M., Kranacher, M., Morris, B., Riley Jr, R., Robertson, J., and Wells, J. (. Forensic accounting as an investigative tool. CPA Journal. Aug2006. 76 Issue 8, p68-70. 3p. The Lebanese Transparency Association (. Campaign Finance Monitoring in monitoring to reform. UN (. Corruption Assessment Report on Lebanon. United Nations Center for International Crime Prevention.

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