birth_place name image article_title citizenship occupation alma_mater
cape town , south africa mark nigrini photo_of_mark_nigrini . jpg mark nigrini
 united states of america assistant professor of accounting at west virginia university university -lrb- m.b.a. -rrb- university of cape town b.com -lrb- hons of -rrb- cincinnati -lrb- phd -rrb- university of stellenbosch
mark nigrini

mark j. nigrini , born in cape town , south africa , is a faculty member at the college of business and economics at west virginia university in morgantown in the us state of west virginia .
nigrini is best known for his work on using benford 's law as an auditing and accounting tool to detect anomalies in company data .
he is the author of `` forensic analytics '' which describes tests to detect fraud , errors , estimates , and biases in financial data and he is also the author of `` benford 's law '' .
benford 's law gives the expected patterns of the digits in tabulated data and it has been used by auditors and scientists to detect anomalies in tabulated data .
his academic papers have been published in `` auditing : a journal of practice and theory '' , `` the journal of the american taxation association '' , `` the journal of forensic accounting '' , `` the journal of emerging technologies in accounting '' , and others .
other applied papers have been published in journals such as `` mathematical geology '' , `` the international journal of mathematics and mathematical sciences '' , and `` the international journal of algebra '' .
his practitioner papers have been published in journals such as `` ieee potentials '' , `` internal auditor '' , and the `` journal of accountancy '' .
nigrini serves on the executive editorial board of the `` international journal of disclosure and governance '' and also of the `` journal of forensic & investigative accounting '' .
nigrini 's forensic work has been referenced in the national media including `` the financial times '' , `` the new york times '' , `` the wall street journal '' , `` the globe and mail '' , and `` new scientist '' .
his work has also been featured in foreign language publications such as `` der spiegel '' .
his radio interviews have included the bbc in london , and npr in the united states .
his television interviews have included appearances on nbc 's `` extra '' and the investigation discovery channel for their series on `` evil twins '' .
in october 2013 nigrini delivered the prestigious sufrin lectureship in accounting at the university at buffalo .
in april 2014 nigrini presented a pre-conference workshop in palm springs , california at the annual conference of the national association of purchasing card professionals on using forensic analytics to detect purchasing card fraud , errors , waste and abuse .
he also presented a keynote talk on benford 's law at the same conference .
in june 2014 he presented a pre-conference workshop in san antonio , texas at the annual global conference of the association of certified fraud examiners on benford 's law and analytical fraud detection techniques .
in august 2014 nigrini published an article , `` lessons from an $ 8 million fraud '' , with nathan j. mueller who stole $ 8.45 million from his employer , an insurance company , over a four-year period .
in the article mueller describes his fraud scheme , how he explained his newfound wealth in the form of expensive cars , watches , nightlife entertainment , and las vegas gambling trips , to his wife and friends , and ultimately how he was caught .
mueller is currently at federal prison camp , duluth , a minimum security federal prison .
in the article nigrini reviews the preventive and detective anti-fraud measures that could have detected the multi-million dollar fraud long before it was detected , quite by chance , after four years .
the journal of accountancy is the flagship publication of the american institute of certified public accountants .
nigrini has a b.com -lrb- hons -rrb- degree from the university of cape town , an mba degree from the university of stellenbosch , and a phd degree from the university of cincinnati .
in addition to his academic credentials , nigrini passed the chartered accountant -lrb- south africa -rrb- exam in 1981 and his early accounting career included time with peat , marwick , mitchell & co. -lrb- now kpmg -rrb- and as a divisional accountant .
nigrini has served as an expert witness and has done consulting engagements for large international organisations and government departments at the state level .
