Reuters: Fraud detected more often at bankrupt companies

From Reuters:

Bankrupt companies are three times more likely to have been cited for fraud by U.S. regulators, according to a study released on Monday.
The study from Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP also showed that fraud incidents were much more likely to land a company in bankruptcy court.
"Many of the companies that commit financial statement fraud are dealing with adverse performance issues and committing fraud to cover those up," said Toby Bishop, director of the Deloitte Forensic Center. "A significant proportion of them -- 20 percent -- will end up filing for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy protection)."
Fraud-linked bankruptcies like Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia have kept U.S. courts busy for years, and the study revealed that companies that are cited for financial-statement fraud were twice as likely to file for bankruptcy as those that were not cited.

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