Fraud mitigation: a hope for United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030

Citation

Othman, R. and Ameer, R. (2023), "Fraud mitigation: a hope for United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 36 No. 5, pp. 1471-1472. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-06-2023-199

Fraud-related research findings and wicked problems are linked to justifying UN 17 SDGs. The poem is inspired by a quote from Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian Emperor from 1930 to 1974:

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

Peace, justice, and strong institutions [1] for all:

reduce inequalities is the call [2].

While women dominate the lower occupational hierarchy,

many men are c-suited [3], a source of envy.

Even frauds are innately gendered:

bad women conceive bad children, and that's the end of it.

Condemned for trespassing biological nature,

she just wants food on the table [4].

Some men at the top exploit others to manipulate resources [5] –

it's all about greed;

cooking the books – there is no real need.

Sentencing paints their crimes on the fabric of society:

blue-collar delinquents steal out of necessity,

some locked up when it's really not necessary.

White-collar perpetrators privileged through education and class,

escape the vengeance of the law,

leaving many in awe.

Millions are robbed from the pockets of pensioners;

angry and driven to the edge of poverty and hunger [6].

Formal or informal, education for all [7]:

trust but verify is the lesson to recall.

Fraud is indiscriminate –

destroying communities, shifting inequality's trajectory [8].

For this socially constructed crime,

a 180 turn could be just in time.

When society is equitable, the economy thrives,

and for justice to prevail,

morality must prevail.

For life below water and life on land [9], for the air that we breathe [10],

let's stop fraud infesting our communities and becoming a disease.

Let's say no to green-washing evolving into blue-washing please.

Pretending clean water and sanitation [11],

cloaking affordable energy that is clean [12],

preventing the decent life [13] of which we dream.

Injury is not coloured by blood, but by harm.

If blood is the price of self-pursuit,

we have allowed that blood to take root.

When justice for one is not justice for all,

isn't injury to one an injury to all?

Notes

1. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

2. SDG 10: Reduced Inequality.

3. SDG 5: Gender Equality; SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 10: Reduced Inequality.

4. SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.

5. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

6. SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG: Zero Hunger; SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being.

7. SDG 4: Quality Education; SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

8. SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities; SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

9. SDG 14: Life Below Water; SDG 15: Life on Land.

10. SDG 13: Climate Action.

11. SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.

12. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.

13. SDG 1: No Poverty; SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being; SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.