arbiter
JournalsAccount

To Charge or Not to Charge: Prosecutorial Characteristics and Responses to Auditor Reported Findings

Michelle Lau & Renee Flasher

Journal of Forensic Accounting Research2025https://doi.org/10.2308/jfar-2022-022article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Deterring white-collar crime involves a complex relationship between detection by auditors and legal enforcement. We hand collect data from the Arkansas Legislative Audit Committee on auditor findings reported to the prosecuting attorney’s office, and subsequent prosecutorial responses for the respective district between 2015 and 2019. Applying theory from sociology and psychology we consider the effects of prosecutorial gender and financial resources (a dimension of socio-economic status) on prosecutorial charging decisions involving auditor reported fraud. We find an association between a prosecutor’s financial resources and formal prosecutorial charges but not for gender. We also find an increasing trend of auditor referrals but static levels of formal criminal charges filed by prosecutors. Our findings highlight the complexity of the auditor-prosecutor relationship, and a need to better understand differences between auditor and prosecutor conclusions regarding white-collar crime. Data Availability: Data are available from public sources cited in text. JEL Classifications: M420.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/jfar-2022-022

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{michelle2025,
  title        = {{To Charge or Not to Charge: Prosecutorial Characteristics and Responses to Auditor Reported Findings}},
  author       = {Michelle Lau & Renee Flasher},
  journal      = {Journal of Forensic Accounting Research},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2308/jfar-2022-022},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

To Charge or Not to Charge: Prosecutorial Characteristics and Responses to Auditor Reported Findings

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.