Purpose

Lebanon has faced one of the most severe financial and economic crises since the end of 2019. The practices of the Lebanese banks are blamed for dangerously exposing economic agents and precipitating the current financial collapse. This paper examines the patterns of manipulation of the 10 biggest banks before and after implementing the financial engineering mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply Benford law for the first and second positions of the reports of condition and income and four out of the six aspects of the CAMELS rating system (Capital Adequacy, Assets Quality, Management expertise, Earnings Strength, Liquidity and Sensitivity to the market) by excluding Management and Sensitivity. The deviations from BL frequencies are tested using Z-statistic and Chi-square tests.

Findings

Banks seem to have manipulated their Capital Adequacy, Liquidity and Assets Quality in the pre-financial engineering and considerably in the post-financial engineering periods. Fraudulent manipulations in the banking sector can distort depositors, shareholders and regulating authorities.

Research limitations/implications

This study has many implications for governmental authorities, commercial banks, depositors, businesses, accounting and auditing firms, and policymakers. The Lebanese government needs to implement corrective fiscal and monetary policies and apply amendments to the bank secrecy and capital control law. The central bank should revamp its organizational structure, improve its disclosure practices and significantly reduce its ties to the government and the political elite.

Practical implications

The study findings suggest that the central bank should revamp its organizational structure, improve its disclosure practices and significantly reduce its ties to the government and the political elite.

Originality/value

The study is the first to examine the patterns of fraudulent manipulation in the Lebanese banking industry using Benford Law (BL).

中文翻译：

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应用本福德定律检测金融工程前后的会计数据操纵行为

目的

黎巴嫩面临着 2019 年底以来最严重的金融和经济危机之一。黎巴嫩银行的做法被指责危险地暴露了经济主体，并加速了当前的金融崩溃。本文考察了实施金融工程机制前后十大银行的操纵模式。

设计/方法论/途径

作者将本福德定律应用于状况和收入报告的第一和第二位置，以及骆驼评级系统六个方面中的四个（资本充足性、资产质量、管理专业知识、盈利实力、流动性和市场敏感性）排除管理和敏感性。使用Z统计和卡方检验来测试与 BL 频率的偏差。

发现

在前金融工程时期和后金融工程时期，银行似乎已经操纵了其资本充足率、流动性和资产质量。银行业的欺诈性操纵可能会扭曲储户、股东和监管机构的利益。

研究局限性/影响

这项研究对政府当局、商业银行、储户、企业、会计和审计公司以及政策制定者有许多影响。黎巴嫩政府需要实施纠正性财政和货币政策，并对银行保密和资本管制法进行修订。央行应改革其组织结构，改进信息披露实践，并大幅减少与政府和政治精英的联系。

实际影响

研究结果表明，央行应改革其组织结构，改进信息披露实践，并大幅减少与政府和政治精英的联系。

原创性/价值

该研究首次利用本福德定律（BL）研究黎巴嫩银行业的欺诈操纵模式。