CIA-1 - Fraud Risks (15% of the exam) - Section D.1
Describe concepts of fraud risks and types of fraud, including the fraud triangle (motivation, opportunity, and rationalization) and common fraud schemes.
Describe fraud as an intentional act involving deception to obtain an unjust advantage, and explain the fraud triangle: the pressure or motivation that drives an actor, the opportunity created by weak controls, and the rationalisation that lets them justify the act. Identify common fraud schemes, such as asset misappropriation, corruption, and financial statement fraud, and recognise the fraud risks each presents.
While briefing a new recruit, an internal auditor explains the three elements of the fraud triangle. The auditor points to weak segregation of duties and unmonitored system access as the factor that makes fraud both possible to commit and easy to conceal. Which element of the fraud triangle is the auditor describing?
APressure, or motivation, the financial or emotional force that drives a person towards committing fraud.
BRationalisation, the way an individual justifies dishonest conduct to themselves before or after acting.
CCapability, the personal traits and authority that let a specific individual carry out a scheme successfully.
DOpportunity, the conditions, such as weak controls and excessive access, that allow fraud to be committed and hidden.check_circle Correct
Recognise that opportunity is the fraud triangle element created by weak controls and poor oversight. Opportunity exists when controls are weak or access is excessive, giving a person a realistic chance to commit and conceal fraud; it is distinct from the pressure that motivates and the rationalisation that excuses the act.
Why A is wrong: Pressure is a genuine element of the triangle, but it describes the internal force pushing a person to act, not the control weakness that lets the act happen.
Why B is wrong: Rationalisation is a real element, yet it concerns the offender's mindset and self-justification, not the environmental gap that permits the fraud.
Why C is wrong: Capability extends the triangle into the wider fraud diamond and concerns an individual's skills and position, not the control conditions described here.
Why D is correct: Opportunity is the element created by control weaknesses and poor oversight, which is exactly what unmonitored access and weak segregation of duties represent.
Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the CIA-1 bank for this domain.
Pressure, because an employee under serious personal financial strain is driven to resolve it through dishonest means at the company's expense.
errorWhy it is wrong: Pressure is a genuine triangle element, but the scenario states the clerk has no known financial difficulties, so heightened pressure is not what the weak controls create here.
Opportunity, the control weakness or excessive access that makes committing a fraud realistically possible.
errorWhy it is wrong: Opportunity concerns the environment that allows fraud, whereas the offender's remark is about how he excused the act to himself, not about a control gap.
Opportunity, the weak controls or excessive access that give a person a realistic chance to commit fraud.
errorWhy it is wrong: Opportunity relates to gaps in the control environment, but the facts describe the person's own financial predicament rather than any control weakness.