Glossary · Document and evidence governance
Fraud and error prevention
In internal control, fraud and error prevention is the goal of designing processes, roles and system controls so that neither deliberate misconduct (fraud) nor unintentional mistakes (errors) can occur unnoticed — above all by ensuring that no single person can commit an act and then conceal it.
- Compliance
In one sentence
Fraud and error prevention designs processes and controls so that neither deliberate misconduct nor honest mistakes go unnoticed.
Example
Because the employee who enters supplier invoices cannot also release payments, a fake invoice entered by that employee is stopped at the payment release.
How it applies
- Preventive controls stop an act before it has an effect: segregation of duties, the dual control principle, access rights.
- Detective controls reveal it afterwards: reconciliations, reviews and the audit trail.
- Documentation: In technical documentation the "error" side matters most: a second, independent review catches wrong values, missing warnings or outdated versions before they reach the user.
Fraud vs. error
Fraud is intentional, errors are not, but the same controls address both: an independent second person catches a mistake as reliably as a deliberate manipulation. No control prevents fraud or error completely; controls reduce the likelihood and make them visible.