Fraudsters Beware: Unleashing the Power of Metaverse Technology to Uncover Financial Fraud.

This study seeks to investigate the potential of utilizing the metaverse environment to enhance the ability of financial analysts in detecting financial fraud. A preregistered randomized controlled experiment was conducted, which involved two control groups of participants discussing financial statements onsite and via video conference, and an experimental group utilizing a metaverse environment. The results revealed that the experimental group's performance in terms of the accuracy of fraud detection surpassed that of the two controlled groups. This outcome may be attributed to the enhanced usage of data visualization and more proactive participation of female participants. This study provides valuable insights into the potential benefits of employing metaverse technology in corporate finance and informs future collaboration strategies for financial analysts in fraud detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]