Methodology
Occupational Fraud 2022: A Report to the Nations is based on the results of the ACFE 2021 Global Fraud Survey, an online survey of Certified Fraud Examiners conducted from July 2021 to September 2021. Respondents were asked to provide information about the single largest occupational fraud case they had investigated that met the following four criteria:
- The case must have involved occupational fraud (i.e., fraud committed by a person against the organization for which they work).
- The investigation must have occurred between January 2020 and the time of survey participation.
- The investigation must have been complete at the time of survey participation.
- The respondent must have been reasonably sure the perpetrator(s) was (were) identified.
Respondents were presented with 77 questions regarding the details of the fraud case, including information about the perpetrator, the victim organization, and the methods of fraud employed, as well as fraud trends in general. We received 7,890 total responses to the survey, 2,110 of which were usable for purposes of the report.