Accounting manipulation occurs more often in firms that have a work culture that is centered on self-interest, according to a joint University of Melbourne and Tilburg University study.

Watch Professor Margaret Abernethy (above), the Sir Douglas Copland Chair of Commerce in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne, discuss the project.

The research was completed in conjunction with Professors Jan Bouwens and Laurence van Lent of the CentER and Department of Accountancy at Tilburg University.

The study, which analysed 550 senior managers in The Netherlands, found that these manipulations included everything from deferring needed expenditure or accelerating sales to shifting funds between accounts to avoid budget overruns.

Video provided courtesy of Tilburg University.