Authors: Mark Lokanan
Publishing Journal: Journal of Financial Crime
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an argument for the use of cognitive interviews to be use in financial crime investigations. In particular, the paper argues that the components of cognitive interview make it useful for financial crime investigators to gather and collate information on financial criminality.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper chronicles the literature on cognitive interviews to critically evaluate its usefulness in previous studies.
Findings: A critical examination of the literature shows that cognitive interviews were successfully used in a variety of circumstances. Despite its difficulties, the empirical evidence reveals that cognitive interview fared well in laboratory studies across different (and vulnerable) population groups.
Practical Implications: The study opens an avenue for ordinary users of financial information to process the data and question the validity of the numbers presented by listed firms. Furthermore, if fraud information is available, similar research can be conducted to examine the tendency for companies with anomalous financial reports to commit fraud.
Originality/Value: To the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper of its kind to conduct a thorough literature review and apply cognitive interview techniques to financial crime investigation.