Combating fraud: is Egypt ready? Insights from the literature

The current study aims at evaluating Egypt’s ability to combat internal fraud after the 21st of January revolution in 2011 where the demand for more integrity and transparency increased. The current study critically reviews prior literature into four fraud-related areas in the Egyptian context. This includes the extent of internal fraud risk in Egypt, the efforts of regulators in combating internal fraud, the efforts of external auditors in detecting internal fraud, and fraud research in Egypt. The following databases were used: Emerald, Ebscohost, Science Direct, ElSevier, Web of Science, Jstor, and Academic Search Premier. Google search engine and websites of international professional bodies were also used. The current study is one of few papers that provide knowledge about a context where there is a scarcity of fraud research. The current study also offers recommendations to regulators, audit professionals, and researchers in Egypt in an area that is highly controversial and a concern to various stakeholders. However one of the limitations of the current study is that it provides evidence from prior literature rather than empirical research.