Researchers from a trio of universities (Washington State, Pennsylvania State, and Miami) studied 250 companies involved in Securities and Exchange Commission fraud filings from 2005 to 2013, and found that Fortune 500 companies were much more likely to have cooked books. Researchers looked closely for predictors of fraud, and found four risk factors :
- Fortune 500 companies (four times more common than non-Fortune 500 companies)
- Firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange (two times more likely than those not)
- Companies with unusually aggressive growth expectations
- Firms where the CEO also chairs the board
Source: NYSE firms more likely to commit financial fraud, study finds
