The numbers fell into three categories. First, fraudulent checks were more often for round dollar amounts than were good checks. These findings were used to supplement the existing check fraud detection system. S ummary For innovative value-added applications, auditors do not always need to use Benford's Law as the expected digit distribution. A valid audit tool would be a My Law based on historical digit patterns.
Auditors can also use the number duplication formula in several innovative ways.
As discussed, an insurance company used the historical digit patterns of its claims to assess the validity of current claims paid. A pension fund used the last-two digit patterns to detect deviations from the norm that might suggest irregularities in the buying of stocks. A retailer used the Number Frequency Factor to detect abnormal duplication in refunds made at the individual stores. A bank used the digit and number patterns of fraudulent checks to sharpen their audit of suspect checks. These examples show innovative uses of digital analysis.