Benford's Law Analysis for Fraud Detection and Data Validation
Source:R/benford2.b.R
benford2Class.RdPerforms comprehensive Benford's Law analysis on numeric data to detect potential fraud, manipulation, or data quality issues. This implementation provides robust error handling, data validation, statistical testing, and detailed reporting for forensic data analysis.
Value
A comprehensive results object containing:
Statistical analysis with chi-square test and p-values
Suspect identification with detailed risk assessment
Data quality validation and compliance metrics
Publication-ready visualization with theoretical vs. observed distributions
Details
Benford's Law states that in many naturally occurring datasets, the leading digit d occurs with probability P(d) = log₁₀(1 + 1/d). This analysis:
Validates data appropriateness for Benford analysis
Performs chi-square goodness of fit testing
Calculates Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) for compliance assessment
Identifies suspicious patterns and outliers
Provides comprehensive statistical reporting
Generates publication-ready visualizations
Note
This function requires data with sufficient size (n ≥ 100 recommended) and appropriate distribution (positive numbers spanning multiple orders of magnitude). Small or constrained datasets may not follow Benford's Law naturally.
References
Benford, F. (1938). The law of anomalous numbers. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 78(4), 551-572. Nigrini, M. J. (2012). Benford's Law: Applications for Forensic Accounting, Auditing, and Fraud Detection.
Super classes
jmvcore::Analysis -> ClinicoPath::benford2Base -> benford2Class
Methods
Inherited methods
jmvcore::Analysis$.createImage()jmvcore::Analysis$.createImages()jmvcore::Analysis$.createPlotObject()jmvcore::Analysis$.load()jmvcore::Analysis$.render()jmvcore::Analysis$.save()jmvcore::Analysis$.savePart()jmvcore::Analysis$.setCheckpoint()jmvcore::Analysis$.setParent()jmvcore::Analysis$.setReadDatasetHeaderSource()jmvcore::Analysis$.setReadDatasetSource()jmvcore::Analysis$.setResourcesPathSource()jmvcore::Analysis$.setStatePathSource()jmvcore::Analysis$addAddon()jmvcore::Analysis$asProtoBuf()jmvcore::Analysis$asSource()jmvcore::Analysis$check()jmvcore::Analysis$init()jmvcore::Analysis$optionsChangedHandler()jmvcore::Analysis$postInit()jmvcore::Analysis$print()jmvcore::Analysis$readDataset()jmvcore::Analysis$run()jmvcore::Analysis$serialize()jmvcore::Analysis$setError()jmvcore::Analysis$setStatus()jmvcore::Analysis$translate()ClinicoPath::benford2Base$initialize()