Fraud in Accounting and Audit Research (1926 – 2019) – A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Corporate fraud scandals in recent years resulted in significant regulatory changes as well as growing interest in fraud-related accounting and audit research. However, the scientific landscape of fraud literature has become increasingly fragmented and little is known about the development and structure of this research field. Using bibliometric analysis, our study aims to provide a better understanding of the historical development and the structure of fraud research in the accounting and audit discipline. Specifically, we use different bibliometric methods to explore 260 fraud articles published in leading accounting and auditing journals between 1926 and 2019. Our study provides a holistic perspective on the intellectual and conceptual structure of fraud research. It further illustrates the evolution and trends of fraud research in the accounting and audit discipline by revealing key authors and publications, important collaboration networks, shifts in research methods, and citation and keyword linkages across the research field. Moreover, we identify and visualize major research clusters as well as fading and emerging research topics. We find that fraud research remained stagnant at a relatively low level in early decades but significantly gained in importance since major regulatory reforms. Our results highlight shifts of fraud research towards archival research methods, multi-authorships, and more specific research themes but – at the same time – that the definition of a typical fraudster did not change significantly over time. We show that the fragmented literature can be categorized into five main clusters, characterizing different research streams. Furthermore, we identify current research gaps and suggest promising future research avenues.