Each year the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners issues a Report to the Nations, a global study on occupational fraud and abuse (ACFE report to the nations). Occupational fraud or internal fraud is broadly defined as "… the use of one's occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the organization's resources or assets." Stated differently, it is the fraud that is committed by an entity's own officers, directors or employees. It is the largest and most prevalent fraud threat against an organization. Asset misappropriation is the most common scheme representing 89% of the cases studied, with a median loss of approximately $114,000.

Asset misappropriation involves either the theft of inventory or other assets, or more commonly, the theft of cash, which includes actual cash on hand and fraudulent disbursements. Two of the most common and costliest types of fraudulent disbursements schemes are check/payment tampering and billing schemes. Check and payment tampering includes schemes such as the diversion of legitimate vendor payments through fraudulent endorsements, the altering of payees to fraudulent individuals, and authorized maker schemes, where an employee with signature authority writes fraudulent checks for his own benefit. Billing schemes include the creation of fictitious vendors and the subsequent payments to these vendors.

The longer a fraudster's scheme goes undetected by management, the greater the related loss, which can grow exponentially. At the onset of an embezzlement, a certain level of apprehension exists, where the fraudster tests out the waters to make sure they aren't going to get caught. Once they become more confident in their scheme, the fraud begins to grow. Over a three-year period, the median loss doubles approximately every six months.