Biography
Mark J. Nigrini was formerly on the faculty at the Cox School of
Business at Southern Methodist University where he taught undergraduate
and graduate level auditing classes and a computer modeling class.
He is a Research Fellow at the Ernst & Young Center for
Auditing Research and Advanced Technology at the University of Kansas.
His current line of research addresses using Digital Analysis for
continuous audit and the detection of earnings manipulation.
Nigrini started his work with digital and number frequencies in 1989
after reading Frank Benford’s 1938 paper on the expected digit
frequencies in tabulated data. He
saw the potential for auditors to use the expected digit patterns to
test the authenticity of client data.
His early work focused on reading and understanding the theory
underlying Benford’s Law. In
1992 he completed his Ph.D. dissertation (“The Detection of Income Tax
Evasion Through an Analysis of Digital Distributions”) at the
University of Cincinnati.
In 1995 his work started receiving publicity and was publicized in The
Wall Street Journal, Canadian Business, Technology
in Government, Contingencies,
The Globe and Mail, and CA
Magazine, among others. His
work has been written about in publications such as The Financial Times, The New
York Times, Der Spiegel, Business Week, Dallas Morning News,
Philadelphia Inquirer, The Journal of Accountancy, and USA Today.
Nigrini has presented numerous academic seminars and professional
seminars for organizations such as the Institute of Internal Auditors,
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, AICPA, Bank Administration
Institute, CAURA, The Association of Government Accountants, the
International Association of Airline Internal Auditors, and the
International Association of Financial Crime Investigations.
His DATASâ
software is used by corporate, professional, government, and academic
institutions in North America and Europe.
Digital Analysis using Benford’s Law is an important part of
Ernst & Young’s new world-wide auditing technology.
Nigrini has published papers on Digital Analysis in academic
journals such as The Journal of
the American Taxation Association, Auditing:
A Journal of Practice and Theory, and
The Journal of Accounting Education,
and in practitioner journals such as Internal
Auditor, Journal of Accountancy, IT Audit Forum, The White Paper, and
IEEE Potentials. Nigrini
is the author of Digital Analysis
Using Benford’s Law: Tests and Statistics for Auditors published
by Global Audit Publications, a division of ACL Services Ltd.
Nigrini has recently completed a new book on using Microsoft
Access for data analysis.
The
Number Games That People Play
The
luncheon talk will be conducted by Mark J. Nigrini who promises an informative,
lively, and entertaining learning experience. The talk will cover Benford's Law
- a "secret" law of numbers. He will draw extensively from his work in
North America with examples from practice at the most innovative audit
departments. The number games will center around examples of fraud, tax evasion,
and money laundering. The lunch talk will include the analysis of census numbers
from 3,000 years ago, his experience with the Clinton tax returns, the Florida
presidential election numbers, a winning blackjack strategy using an easy method
of card counting, and even tips for selecting lottery numbers! The luncheon talk
will turn the ten digits and what can be learned from them, upside down and
inside out. Click here for
a little more information.
Ottawa Sun Interview
