The moderate role of national culture and prosperity index on the effectiveness of the fraud triangle to prevent financial statement fraud: a cross-country meta-analysis approach

This research paper aims to achieve three objectives, identify effective fraud triangle risk factors for detecting financial statement fraud (FSF), assess the role of country characteristics in detecting FSF risk factors, and evaluate variations in fraud scores between countries with comparable cultural and prosperity levels. Using a meta-analysis approach following PRISMA guidelines, the study uncovers effective proxies for fraud triangle risk factors and highlights the significant role of a nation's characteristics in determining FSF risks. The findings contribute to the behavioural forensics literature by providing a comprehensive assessment of reputable studies, offering insights into the moderate effect of countries' specific features on FSF occurrence, and clustering countries with similar attributes to analyse differences in fraud scores. This research advances our understanding of FSF detection and prevention and can be used to develop tailored financial fraud prediction models and strategies on a global scale.