Forensic accounting investigation of bidding processes in presential modality: a case study

This study presents the case of a Forensic Investigation, in the area of ​​Accounting, of a public bidding process in the form of an face-to-face auction in a city in the interior of Ceará, in 2009. In the bidding process under analysis, the object of the bid, whose total value was estimated at R$ 16 million reais, was divided into several items, which were later grouped into 73 lots. Thus, the average price of each lot in the contest was estimated at R$ 219 thousand reais, allowing several winning bidders to be included, instead of a single successful bidder for the entire bidding process. In the analysis of the documentation, it was found that five bidders were qualified, here referred to by the fictitious names Alfa, Beta, Gama, Delta and Sigma. The expert examined in detail the price of each of the 73 lots registered in the five Price Proposals submitted by the bidders, with the aim of verifying whether the prices proposed by the participants corresponded to the prices presented in the Auction Record, finding changes made by the auctioneer in the price of 7 lots. In view of the above, the Criminal Accounting Expertise is capable of detecting these fraudulent practices by collusion between public agents and bidding companies in events that took place in the form of in-person auctions, acting to combat irregular practices by public agents in bidding processes.