BENFORD'S LAW: an analysis of its applicability in a sample of tax documents presented in the senators’ accountability

Abstract

In a context of compliance analysis and manifestation on documents presented in reimbursement processes for expenses incurred, the selection of attributes or methodologies capable of directing human resources when the object of examination falls on large sets of digital data is challenging. In addition to the other statistical sampling techniques employed in an auditing environment, the Benford's Law as an instrument to guide the identification of anomalous records deserves special mention. Through a study of the financial records of quota expenditures for the exercise of parliamentary activity granted to senators of the Republic, the individual values of a set of fiscal documents were submitted to the logical structure of the Benford's Law and their calculated frequencies compared with the expected ones, to identify the most unusual records for the first, second and first two digits of each disbursement receipt. The analysis of the records and interpretation of the applied statistical tests suggest the presence of signs of manipulations, errors and/or irregularities in the process of rendering accounts for amounts intended to cover expenses. As a result, the described methodology may be applicable to rationalize expenditure verification procedures that share the same characteristics.