Abstract

BARACALDO-LOZANO, Natalia Andrea. Diagnosis of Corporative Government as a Fraud-Prevention Mechanism in Family Businesses (Case-Method Approach). Cuad. Contab. [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.35, pp.581-615. ISSN 0123-1472.

It is possible to determine weaknesses and strengths in businesses by means of a corporative government practice diagnosis. Weaknesses-like conflict of interests, inexistent policies or codes of conduct and lack of organizational culture-directly affect the internal oversight environments of the entities. Shortcomings in corporative government practices have fostered scenarios for fraud commitment within organizations. The risk of fraud is a reality every business is exposed to and, as any sign of risk, it has to be managed and -in this case- mitigated or prevented. This article presents the contextualization of two meaningful aspects for the performance and sus-tainability of family businesses: corporative government practices, on the one hand, and fraud on the other one. In order to show how inadequate corporative practices become a direct cause of fraud commitment within entities, the case of Grupo Mikarena de Colombia, a family business group, is presented by means of the following methodology: a) quantification of inadequate corporative government practice-derived fraud cases committed within five of their companies, b) diagnosis of corporative government practices, including a risk of fraud management section, and c) a quantified diagnosis result with observations and recommendations. Through this diagnosis it is possible to understand the current state of corporative government, to receive feedback, and to further optimize management within organizations.

Keywords : Family business; corporative government; fraud; corporative government diagnosis; Family business management; corrupt practices; small and medium; case studies.

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