Kel+7 Audit+Forensik Natalis+Christian
Kel+7 Audit+Forensik Natalis+Christian
Kel+7 Audit+Forensik Natalis+Christian
Abstract
The cash flow statement presents the company's cash flows are divided into 3 categories, which is
operating, investing and financing activities. The purpose of this research is to examine and
analyze cash flow shenanigans at PT Cakra Mineral Tbk in 2014-2016. This research is in the
form of a case study involving fraud cases committed by PT Cakra Mineral Tbk. In detecting and
analyzing fraud in company financial statements, this study uses secondary data that can be
obtained from the IDX website or company website. The results of the analysis show that there
are indications that PT Cakra Mineral Tbk has fake cash flows because the company consolidated
its financial statements with two companies that had not been legally acquired. This can lead to
an increase in revenue as shown in the 2016 report. This significant increase in sales can also be
caused by an acquisition agreement that has beautified its financial statements. Apart from that,
this company can also be said to be a red flag of selling receivables due to a drastic decrease of
receivables in 2016, while in previous years there was no decrease as much. Based on the results
of the analysis, this fraud has caused losses to various parties.
Keywords Cash Flows, Shenanigans, Fraud
INTRODUCTION
A financial report is the communication method used by the company in a manner
externally and internally to give information about a company's activity during a certain
period of time. The function of financial reports for internal parties of company management
is for decision making, while the function of financial reports for external parties is to inform
investors and creditors about the financial performance and condition of the company during
a certain period. The importance of presenting financial statements for the survival of the
company makes managers motivated to improve company performance so that the
company's existence is maintained. However, there are several cases of fraud committed by
management to present satisfactory financial reports. Fraud committed by companies is
commonly called fraud (Apriliana & Agustina, 2017).
With so many financial frauds these days going undetected, investors are increasingly
questioning the value of the accrual-based figures shown on the income statement. Time and
time again, companies have deceived investors by recording earnings too quickly or hiding
expenses, leading some to conclude that earnings can be manipulated and they should
therefore place more faith in a clearer measure of cash flow from operations (Schilit et al.,
2018).
The statement of cash flows shows how the company's cash balance changed during
the period. This report presents all incoming and outgoing cash flows, reconciling the
beginning balance to the ending balance. All cash movements can be grouped into one of
three categories, namely operating, investing, and financing activities. Investors do not
consider the three parts of the cash flow statement equally important. Investors, on the other
hand, consider the operating section to be the most important area to pay attention to, because
it represents the cash generated from the company's actual business operations that is, cash
flow from operations. Many investors care little about a company's investments or changes
in its capital structure, and some act completely indifferent to the rest (Schilit et al., 2018).
Executives know that investors test the quality of earnings by comparing earnings and
cash flow from operations. In addition, many investors consider the cash flow from
operations to be the most important measure of company performance. Therefore, it is not
surprising that companies are becoming more creative in their financial reporting and
disclosure practices. Many have found innovative ways to mislead investors, using
fraudulent practices that might go undetected in the quality of traditional earnings analysis
(Schilit et al., 2018). PT Cakra Mineral Tbk is a mining company that has been listed on the
Indonesia Stock Exchange with the issuer code CKRA. This company has manipulated its
reports by artificially inflating the number of assets by consolidating the financial statements
of other companies that it does not have. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze
cash flow shenanigans at PT Cakra Mineral Tbk in 2014-2016.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Auditors, Investors, Management, and Manipulation
Indications of fraud often occur between an individual or group and their organization
where the directors have responsibility for controlling opportunities and pressure factors
(Sakti et al., 2020). Many auditors, investors and company management use or use the
accrual basis, namely the company's cash flow, to detect cases of manipulation. According
to Liu & Deo in Tarjo et al., (2023), cash flow statements tend to be stronger for the effect
of falsifying numerical data. In this case, management will act as an investigative approach
tool because it has the motivation to benefit itself. Meanwhile, investors and auditors will
act as trustees so that the management itself does not commit fraud, whereas an effective
trustee will close fraud loopholes.
The factor in the occurrence of fraud cases is due to the weakness of the guard or trust
in supervising cash flow. With existing deficiencies, accompanied by access and the desire
of supporters, management can commit acts of fraud (Tarjo et al., 2023). As stated that
financial shenanigans, also known as a fraud in finance, are management actions that mislead
investors regarding the company's financial condition to believe that the company's earnings
are stronger and safer, this research will focus on evaluating the manipulation of cash flows
using financial shenanigans.
Cash Flow Shenanigans 1: Shifting cash inflows from financing activities to operating
activities
The techniques in this component of Cash Flow Shenanigans are divided into three.
First, according to Alfonso 2018 in Tarjo et al., (2023), the technique is used by diverting
inflows of financial cash flow to operations. Utilization of cash flow with a bank loan
account will be recognized as income so that it becomes part of operating cash flow. This
trick takes advantage of accounts in financial cash flow, such as bank loans that are
recognized as income so that the income becomes part of the operating cash flow income
(Schilit et al., 2018).
The second is turning accounts receivable into cash even though the customer has not
paid. This transaction will recognize the collection of receivables before maturity. The
company will transfer the ownership of some of the receivables. Instead, the company will
hold cash payments for the total receivables minus the associated costs. This implementation
indicates billing acknowledgment at the wrong time. The impact of an increase in receivables
collection will result in an increase in the operating cash flow component.
Third, create fake receivables to increase operating cash flow. (Schilit et al., 2018),
stated in Tarjo et al., (2023), that this trick is easy for management in a company's business
to increase operating cash flow. Simply by creating counterfeit receivables that are quite
risky but potentially free from monitoring by auditors and investors.
Cash Flow Shenanigans 2: Shifting cash outflows from operating activities to other
sections
When it comes to cash flow shenanigan second technique, there are four tricks to
getting cash flowing out and moving on to other parts. First, the application of boomerang
transactions where it is meant that fictitious transactions occur as if there were very large
sales, but on the other hand, the company also has very large purchases. The purpose of this
transaction is to include receipts in the operating cash flow component and then, expenses
that appear in the operating cash section are transferred to the investment cash section. One
example is, a customer advances account. The advance will be part of the operating cash
flow. When they have occurred, they will cause an outflow to operating cash flow. This
condition is a situation that should be, however, management chooses to be transferred to
expenses in the investment cash flow section (Tarjo et al., 2023).
The second technique is an error in capitalizing expenses. The technique is carried out
by recording operating costs as assets not as expenses. Such transactions will result in
fictitious revenue figures and spikes in operating cash flow. Third, incorrectly recorded the
purchase of inventory or inventory. This trick occurs by recording inventory purchases but
reporting them in the investment outflow section where they should be recorded in the
operating cash flow section. Fourth, tracking and transferring unnecessary outflows to
operating cash. For example, most companies with retirement plans will fund the plan with
cash invested by meeting the company's projected long-term liabilities. The company will
transfer the expense account and generate a significant increase in the share of operating
cash flows (Tarjo et al., 2023).
Cash Flow Shenanigans 3: Increasing operating cash flow with unsustainable activities
Cash flow shenanigan third technique focuses on increasing operating cash flow with
unsustainable policies. "Unsustainable" makes it an area of management that can be easily
manipulated because it is freed from the scrutiny of the auditor. The first trick is to increase
operating cash flow by deferring liabilities. Companies often implement a policy of deferring
obligations to increase revenue accompanied by an increase in cash flow operations (Schilit
et al., 2018).
The second trick is to speed up debt payments from customers. In this case, the
company will try to convince customers to pay their obligations as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the third trick is buying inventory that is lower than the previous period. This
method includes unreasonable methods because it includes actions that harm other people.
However, the impact will increase operating cash flow instantly (Tarjo et al., 2023).
METHOD
The research method used is a qualitative method in the form of descriptive data to
explain the observations of the research object. Qualitative methods are used in
investigations, studies, and descriptions of observed phenomena in contexts that are
appropriate to the circumstances (N. Christian et al., 2022). This research is also in the form
of a case study involving a fraud case committed by a public company in Indonesia.
Therefore, this research also requires quantitative data or numerical data as material for
analysis. So, this research method is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods (N. J.
R. L. Christian, 2021). In detecting and analyzing fraud in company financial statements, this
study uses secondary data that can be obtained from the IDX website or the company
website. The data used are the company's financial statements from 2014 to 2016. The object
to be studied is PT Cakra Mineral Tbk. This research was conducted by understanding and
analyzing the financial statements of PT Cakra Mineral Tbk for 3 years, namely the years
related to the time the case occurred.
Cash Flow Shenanigans 1: Shifting cash inflows from financing activities to operating
activities
The first detection of cash flow shenanigans needs to be done by analyzing the cash
flow of the company's operating activities. The table above shows the cash flow of PT Cakra
Mineral Tbk's operating activities from 2014 to 2016. If you look at the table, the net cash
used for operating activities in 2014 was IDR 5,308,913,087 and in 2015 it was IDR
5,314,041,719. This figure did not change significantly and only experienced an increase of
around 0.1%. This shows that in that year there should be no indication of fraud by
exaggerating cash inflows from operations. However, the amount of net cash used for
operating activities in 2016 showed a figure of IDR 415 million, indicating a significant
change from 2015 to 2016. Net cash used for operating activities decreased by around IDR
4.9 billion or in other words cash inflows generated from operating activities have increased
significantly. If traced, the increase in cash inflows came from receipts from customers
which increased by around IDR 53 billion, from IDR 20 billion to IDR 73 billion.
Based on the table above which shows the company's trade receivables, around IDR
8.9 billion of the increase in customer acceptance came from receipt of receivables. While
the rest due to a significant increase in sales. This is due to the acquisition agreement from
PT Cakra Mineral Tbk to PT Murni Jaya Persada and PT Takaras Inti Lestari which has
enhanced the financial statements and also led to sales growth for the company. Based on
the theory of cash flow shenanigan no.1, the first action that a fraud perpetrator might take
is to record fake cash inflows from operating activities from receiving bank loans, which
should be recorded in the funding activities section. In this regard, there is no indication that
PT Cakra Mineral Tbk did so because, as previously explained, the increase in cash flow
from operating activities was due to receipt of receivables and increase in sales as a result of
the acquisition agreement for the 2 companies.
Meanwhile, according to the theory of cash flow shenanigans, fake cash flows from
operating activities can also be caused by fake income. PT Cakra Mineral Tbk can be said
to be indicated to do this because the company has consolidated its financial statements with
two other companies that have not been legally acquired. This can lead to an increase in
revenue that actually comes from companies that are not owned and should not be
consolidated in their financial statements. The second action that may be taken by fraud
perpetrators is to increase the cash flow of operating activities by selling receivables before
the billing date. PT. Cakra Mineral Tbk can be said to be a red flag in this regard due to a
drastic decrease in receivables in 2016. Meanwhile, in the previous year, receivables only
decreased by around IDR 3.5 billion, from IDR 13.3 billion to IDR 9.8 billion. However, in
2016 the accounts receivable decreased from IDR 9.8 billion to only IDR 876 million. The
Cash Flow Shenanigans 2: Shifting cash outflows from operating activities to other
sections
Typically, investors will be very pleased with a company that generates far more cash
flow from operations than net income. However, a sizeable portion relates to boomerang
schemes to manipulate cash flows from operations. According to the theory of cash flow
shenanigans number 2, one of the actions that fraudsters might take to transfer cash outflows
from operating activities to other departments is to inflate cash flows from operating
activities with boomerang transactions. As can be seen in the table below, PT Cakra Mineral
Tbk in 2014 and 2015 and 2016 had quite a big difference.
Table 3 The Difference Between Cash Flows from Operations and Net Income
2014-2016
2014 2015 2016
Operating Cash (Rp5.308.913.087 (Rp5.314.041.719) (Rp415.030.689)
Flow
Net Income (Rp281.665.335.349) (Rp54.627.723.231) (Rp54.179.634.632)
Difference Rp276.356.422.262 Rp49.313.681.512 Rp53.764.603.943
There are companies that record these boomerang transactions in a way that artificially
inflates cash flow from operations. The Company records cash received from its customers
in these transactions as operating inflows, however, cash paid to the same customers is
recorded as Investment outflows. In essence, the company increases cash flow from
operating activities by reducing cash flow from investing activities. This allows the company
to demonstrate cash flow from operations that is strong and that clearly exceeds the economic
reality of the transaction. It is less important that cash flow from operations is overstated
than cash flow understated from investing activities, because cash flow from operations is
the main cash flow metric investors focus on.
According to the theory of cash flow shenanigans number 2, the next action that may
be taken by fraud perpetrators is to incorrectly capitalize normal operating expenses. Some
very clever companies have found ways to turn the usual costs of operations from a drain on
free cash flow to one that costs almost nothing, both now and in the future. Another company
started the unusual accounting practice of large multi-year software licenses as capital leases.
In previous years, this type of license has been treated as an operating expense, both in the
operations report and in the operations section reported on the cash flow statement. However,
by classifying license agreements as leases, the company shifted most of the payments to
software vendors from the operations section of the cash flow statement to the financing
section under Principal payments of capital lease obligations. Literally the second-to-last
entry of entire supply chain financing, it is unlikely to catch the eye of analysts, who would
see reported cash flows artificially inflated.
According to cash flow shenanigans theory number 2, the third action that fraudsters
may take is to record inventory purchases as an investment outflow. Cost of goods sold is
the proper account of the direct costs incurred by a company to acquire or produce the
inventories sold to customers. In the operating statement, COGS is subtracted from revenue
to yield a company's gross profit, an important measure of a company's product profitability.
cash flow statements are sometimes not that simple. The economics of purchasing goods to
sell to customers implies that these purchases should be classified as operating activities on
the statement of cash flows. However, some companies treat these purchases as an
investment outflow.
Cash Flow Shenanigans 3: Increasing operating cash flow with unsustainable activities.
Implementation of obligations shown through cash disbursements shows how the
amount of assets becomes larger than it should be. This situation occurs like the case in 2014.
PT Cakra Mineral also stated clearly that cash flow from operating activities in that year
experienced decreased expenses from the previous year due to a decrease in cash payments
to suppliers. Adjusted to the technique described in shenanigans 3, which is increasing
operating cash flow through deferring obligations, making the application a material science
application.
Manipulation of cash flows mentioned, can also be seen from the amount of ending
inventory from year to year. Lower inventory purchases compared to previous periods tend
to generate larger cash flows. While the technique applied to accelerate debt payments from
2014, in order to increase cash flow, can use the analysis of debt to asset ratio and debt to
equity ratio.
The ratio of short-term liabilities to equity increased from 1.58% in 2014 to 3.83% in
2015 and the ratio of long-term liabilities to equity increased from 0.12% in 2014 to 0.47%
in 2015. overall ratio of total liabilities to equity increased from 1.7% in 2014 to 4.3% in
2015.
Looking at the changes that have occurred in the case of PT Cakra Mineral which
exaggerated the amount of capital, and one of the possible techniques to be applied so that
large capital arises is through observing changes in the ability to pay debts of customers. The
smaller the ratio of uncollectible debt, the faster the payment of debt is resolved from
customers. With this, an increase in cash flow and capital is realized as the case described.
CONCLUSION
Repeatedly, companies have deceived investors by recording earnings too quickly or
hiding expenses, leading some to conclude that earnings can be manipulated and they should
therefore place more faith in clearer measures of cash flow. Investors do not consider the
three parts of the cash flow statement equally important. Conversely, investors consider the
operating section to be the most important section to pay attention to, because it presents the
cash generated from the company's actual business operations. Executives know that
investors test the quality of earnings by comparing earnings and cash flow from operations.
Therefore, it is not surprising that companies are becoming more creative in their financial
reporting and disclosure practices. Many have found innovative ways to mislead investors.
The directors of PT Cakra Mineral Tbk were reported to the OJK for alleged conspiracy to
sign an agreement that the company had acquired 55% shares of PT Murni Jaya Persada and
PT Takaras Inti Lestari. However, the fact is that this company is not listed at all in the list
of shareholders of the two companies it acknowledges. The company has manipulated its
reports by falsely inflating assets and exaggerating the amount of paid-up capital from the
two mines.
Based on the results of the shenanigan cash flow analysis of PT Cakra Mineral Tbk's
financial statements, it is indicated that the company has made fake cash flows because it
has consolidated its financial statements with two other companies that have not been legally
acquired. This can lead to an increase in revenue as shown in the 2016 report. This significant
increase in sales can also be caused by an acquisition agreement that has beautified its
financial statements. Apart from that, this company can also be said to be a red flag selling
receivables due to a drastic decrease in receivables in 2016, while in previous years there
was no decrease as much. In the theory of cash flow shenanigans section number 2, one of
the actions that fraudsters might take to transfer cash outflows from operating activities to
another department is to inflate cash flow operating activities with boomerang transactions.
Based on cash flow from operations and net income at PT Cakra Mineral Tbk in 2014, there
is a significant difference between 2015 and 2016. Shenanigans 3 is the best technique for
increasing cash flow or free from auditor detection. The three techniques in the shenanigans
component 3 are the most reasonable techniques for management to present financial reports
to investors adequately and satisfactorily. Accounting profit as seen from accrual accounting
for cash flow and profit and loss statements tends to incorrectly highlight strong and
consistent growth or whether a company is healthy or not. Based on the results of the
analysis, the incident of fraud at PT Cakra Mineral Tbk has caused losses to various parties,
especially investors. This is because the readers of financial statements have been deceived
by the manipulations carried out by companies in their reports.
REFERENCES
Apriliana, S., & Agustina, L. (2017). The Analysis of Fraudulent Financial Reporting
Determinant through Fraud Pentagon Approach. Jurnal Dinamika Akuntansi, 9(2),
154–165. https://doi.org/10.15294/jda.v7i1.4036
Christian, Natalis. Wijaya, Ermi. Teresa, S. (2022). Analisa Financial Shenanigans
Terhadap Laporan Keuangan PT Cakra. 24(2), 104–108.