Chapter 7 Rationality in Decision-Making and Deterring Corporate Fraud

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in corporate governance literature as a result of massive corporate scandals. In today’s world, almost all companies are exposed to the danger of fraud. Much work on the business risk of corporate fraud has been carried out; however, researchers still have tough discussions on the most effective methods to adopt to tackle fraud. In accordance with previous studies, it is possible to say that companies which obey the corporate governance codes to the letter can minimize the risk of fraud. The importance of this chapter lies in that it helps to explain the evidence that although the deterrent measures company can undertake may well, to a certain extent, work out the problem of fraud, they are way far from eliminating corporate crimes in establishing “corporate governance.” The latter is the key term that defines the public responsibility of corporates binding themselves to the rule of law. Corporate governance has been discussed as one of the effective ways of calling the attention of large firms to social problems and urging them to take necessary actions. The reason that companies cannot eliminate fraud is strictly linked to the evidences of critical organization studies that question the epistemic assumptions of mainstream strand of the same field. Some studies show that the subject is not rational decision-making, neither does it follow the interest, nor is it a pure homo economicus so that rationality is effective in deterring corporate frauds to a certain extent.