Emerging Technologies, Internal Control Systems, and Audit as Mechanisms for Financial Fraud Detection and Prevention in the Financial Services Sector

Financial fraud poses a critical and multidimensional threat to the sustainability, governance, and reputational integrity of organizations in the financial services sector. This quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, and correlational study examines how the integration of emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and blockchain, affects the effectiveness of internal control systems, and how audit functions moderate the relationship between internal control effectiveness and financial fraud detection and prevention. The study is grounded in the Fraud Diamond Model, which provides a theoretical framework for understanding the convergence of pressure, opportunity, rationalization, and capability as determinants of fraudulent behavior. Findings are expected to contribute theoretical evidence regarding the integrative role of technology, internal controls, and audit in mitigating financial fraud in digitalized organizational environments.