FRAUD AS A DENIAL OF TAWHID: AN EMPIRICAL SYNTHESIS AND RECONSTRUCTION OFISLAMIC ACCOUNTING ETHICS

Abstract

The phenomenon of fraud continues to pose a serious challenge to the integrity of modern accounting, despite the implementation of various internal control mechanisms and formal regulations. Most existing approaches are still rooted in technocratic paradigms and economic rationality, thus viewing fraud merely as behavioral deviations that can be controlled through audits, supervision, or incentives. This article offers an alternative perspective by examining fraud as a form of denial of monotheism through a synthesis of recent empirical research findings. This study integrates empirical findings regarding the role of spirituality, Islamic work ethics, and the limitations of the modern accounting paradigm in preventing fraud. The synthesis results indicate that fraud represents a severance of humanity's spiritual relationship with God, the failure of modern accounting is proven to be rooted in the absence of an ethical-spiritual dimension, and Islamic values such as sidq, amanah, and awareness of the afterlife have been empirically proven to strengthen fraud prevention. This article contributes to the reconstruction of monotheism-based accounting ethics that places spirituality as an epistemological foundation, thereby transcending the limitations of secular approaches in addressing fraud issues.