Resume and Other Pages
Bio
Mark J. Nigrini, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University. Mark is the recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Accounting Educator award of the West Virginia Society of CPAs. His research passion is Benford’s Law which gives us the expected patterns of the digits in tabulated data. According to Benford’s Law the lower digits (1s, 2s, and 3s) are expected to occur far more frequently as the first digits of the numbers in scientific and financial data than are the higher digits (7s, 8s, and 9s). Benford’s Law has shown itself to be valuable to auditors in their quest to uncover fraud in corporate data. His current research addresses advanced theoretical work on Benford’s Law, CFO fraud, and the use of analytics in auditing and forensic accounting.
Mark has published papers on forensic analytics in academic journals and professional publications. These journals include the highly regarded Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. He published the lead article on the tendency of fraudsters to use round numbers in the first issue of the newly created forensic accounting journal, the Journal of Forensic Accounting Research. In 2014 Mark published an article in the Journal of Accountancy that was co-authored with Nathan Mueller who at the time was incarcerated in a federal prison. Their article subsequently won the Lawler award for the best article in the Journal of Accountancy in 2014. An article published in Managerial Auditing Journal in 2019 has been very well-received by forensic accountants. That study described the characteristics of the dollar amounts used in financial statement, bribery, and asset misappropriation fraud schemes. The number patterns give external auditors and forensic accountants some tangible regularities that can be used in rules-based, proactive fraud detection tests.
His work has been featured in The Financial Times, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His radio interviews have included the BBC in London, and NPR in the United States. His television interviews have included an interview for the Evil Twins series for the Investigation Discovery Channel. He is a regular presenter at the ACFE’s Global Conferences. He also regularly presents workshops for accountants and auditors in the U.S and abroad with recent presentations in Panama, Bahrain and Italy.
Academic papers
Using Analytic Geometry to Quantify the Period to Period Changes in an Array of Values, Managerial Auditing Journal, forthcoming.
The Telltale Patterns of the Numbers used in Fraud Schemes, Managerial Auditing Journal, Volume 34 (5), 2019, pp. 606-626.
Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud: An Analysis of the Fraud Schemes Using IRS Investigation Summaries (with James Peters), Journal of Forensic & Investigative Accounting, Volume 10 (1), 2018, pp. 38-55.
Audit Sampling Using Benford’s Law: A Review of the Literature with Some New Perspectives, Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Volume 14 (2), 2017, pp. 29-46.
Biases in the Reporting of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Tumor Sizes on the Liver Transplant Waiting List (with M. Samoylova, J. Dodge, and J. Roberts), Hepatology, Volume 66 (4), 2017, pp. 1144-1150.
An Analysis of Tax Evasion Drivers in the Light of the Richard Hatch Tax Evasion Saga, Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting, Volume 9 (2), 2017, pp. 849-869.
The implications of the similarity between fraud numbers and the numbers in financial accounting textbooks and test banks, Journal of Forensic Accounting Research, Volume 1 (1), 2016, A1-A26.
Persistent Patterns in Stock Returns, Stock Volumes, and Accounting Data in the U.S. Capital Markets. Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance, Volume 30 (4), 2015, pp. 541-557.
Data diagnostics using second order tests of Benford’s Law (with Steven J. Miller), Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. Volume 28 (2), 2009, pp. 305-324.
Order Statistics and Benford’s Law (with Steven J. Miller), International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, Volume 2008, 2008, Article ID 382948, 19 pp.
Using Key Performance Indicators and Risk Measures in Continuous Monitoring (with Arlo Johnson), Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Volume 5, 2008, pp. 65-80.
The Modulo 1 Central Limit Theorem and Benford’s Law for Products (with Steven J. Miller), International Journal of Algebra, Volume 2 (1-4), 2008, pp. 119-130.
Benford’s Law Applied to Hydrology Data – Results and Relevance to other Geophysical Data (with Steven J. Miller), Mathematical Geology, Volume 39 (5), 2007, pp. 469-490.
Monitoring Techniques Available to the Forensic Accountant, Journal of Forensic Accounting, Volume 7 (2), 2006, pp. 321-344.
An Assessment of the Change in the Incidence of Earnings Management Around the Enron-Andersen Episode, Review of Accounting and Finance, Volume 4 (1), 2005, pp. 92-110.
Computer Assisted Analytical Procedures using Benford’s Law (with Philip D. Drake), Journal of Accounting Education, Volume 18 (2), 2000, pp. 127-146.
The Use of Benford’s Law as an Aid in Analytical Procedures (with Linda J. Mittermaier), Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Volume 16 (2), 1997, pp. 52-67.
Digital Analysis and the Reduction of Auditor Litigation Risk, Proceedings of the 1996 Deloitte & Touche/University of Kansas Symposium on Auditing Problems, May 1996, pp. 69-81.
A Taxpayer Compliance Application of Benford’s Law, The Journal of the American Taxation Association, Volume 18 (1), 1996, pp. 72-91.
Professional articles
Dusting your Data for Fraud’s Fingerprints, Fraud Magazine, Nov/Dec 2020, forthcoming.
Round Numbers: A Fingerprint of Fraud, Journal of Accountancy, May 2018, pp. 36-42.
Lessons from an $8 million Fraud (with Nathan Mueller), Journal of Accountancy, August 2014, pp. 32-37.
Inspiration from Beethoven’s Sixth, Internal Auditor, August 2005, pp. 52-56.
Vital Statistics, Tolley’s Practical Tax Service, Volume 21 (26), 13 December 2000.
Estimating the Impact of Y2K Processing Errors, IT Audit Forum, Volume 2 (12), June 1999.
Fraud Detection: I’ve got your Number, Journal of Accountancy, May 1999, pp. 79-83.
The Peculiar Patterns of First Digits, IEEE Potentials, April/May 1999, pp. 24-27.
Computers and Auditing: Adding Value with Digital Analysis, Internal Auditor, Feb 1999, pp. 21-23.
Using Digital Frequencies to Detect Fraud, The White Paper, April/May 1994, pp. 3-6.