Introduction Over the past two years, American multinational corporations have experienced a plethora of fraudulent acts committed by high-ranking individuals within their respective companies, most of which involve internal fraud. Internal fraud has two main aspects, asset misappropriation and fraudulent financial reporting, and the focus of this discussion lies in the former. The misappropriation of assets is called fraud for personal profit. It is the most common type of fraud seen among employees and often includes theft of cash and inventory. Statement misappropriation, or better yet, fraud in general, is relevant and critical to accountants, auditors, and people in business for the simple fact that losses resulting from fraud affect the economy as a whole. "Fraud is not [just] an accounting problem; it is a social phenomenon." (Wells 2004) Accountants, auditors and business people all have separate but similar responsibilities to uphold, in reference to the general public and the agencies that oversee their performance. These responsibilities include respecting integrity, correctly disclosing relevant information and ensuring that the information provided is reliable. The misappropriation of goods violates all these responsibilities in that there is no integrity in theft; the concealment of the crime conflicts with the responsibility of correct disclosure; and falsifying documents to avoid detection ensures unreliable information. Asset Misappropriation Some brief examples of asset misappropriation committed by lower-level employees include theft; misuse, more specifically, personal use of inventory and other assets; and payroll systems involving the use of ghost employees and falsified wages. The answer to... half of the document ...national suffered losses of $600 million, "this amount is very small compared to Tyco's total revenues and profits." (Sri Media 2002) Furthermore, as stated earlier, "...the extent of the former executive's misconduct has damaged Tyco's reputation and credibility with investors, financiers and others." (Sri Media 2002) Once again, “fraud is not [just] an accounting problem, it is a social phenomenon,” affecting anyone who has a relationship with the respective company. It's an epidemic that's spreading more than ever. Fraud cannot be stopped, only contained, and to contain this disease more or better controls are needed because no one is immune to it. There has been change and there is still a change taking place, which before anything else is a necessity because "if we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always got". (Wells 2004)