[Past Issues] [TOC]

A Data Analysis Based Framework to Detect Anomalies in Large Data Sets Using Benford’s Law

Mustafa Canbolat and D. Donald Kent, Jr.

The BRC Academy Journal of Business

Volume 7

Number 1

Print ISSN: 2152-8721 Online ISSN: 2152-873X

Date: March 15, 2017

First Page 99

Last Page 110

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15239/j.brcacadjb.2017.07.01.ja05

Abstract

In this paper we propose a data analysis based audit framework where we identify and eliminate clusters of data points that do not have the characteristics of a Benford conforming data set. By looking at the attributes of these data sets, we identify potential audit candidates iteratively with the objective of utilizing the auditing budget in a more efficient way. We analyze a publicly available real data set that contains a list of contracts belong to a public health care organization using the proposed framework. We believe this systemic approach is better than a random selection process to better utilize audit resources.

Download Paper

Web Appendix Is Available