Forensic audit: An effective mechanism to detect fraud in Colombian financial statement

The role of forensic audit as a mechanism to detect fraud, has become increasingly important in the obtaining of evidence that are used by the courts to dispense justice. The forensic accountant, is a professional that today enjoys good prestige, society finds in him/her as an ally against corruption, because he/she prevents, investigates, detects and evaluates irregularities occurring within public and private organizations. In the develop of this work, it was determined the importance of forensic accounting as an effective mechanism in the detection of financial fraud in Colombia. Moreover, there were identified the applications of this work in obtaining useful evidence to dispense justice. Also, there were verified the most used practices by the perpetrators of this crime, bringing fundamentals in the auditor's knowledge; bringing fundamentals in the auditor's knowledge. It is analyzed the regulations applied to punish crimes of fraud in financial statements, in order to set a precedent for the responsibility of the public accountant with society. Finally, it is shown the representative cases in which this crime affected the country and the sanctions imposed on fraudsters.