A lot of bad apples work for the corporate finance department, but the number is shrinking, says a new study from KPMG. The report, released this month, says the "typical" corporate fraudster is a senior finance executive, and that of the employees who commit fraud, 32 percent of them work in corporate finance, the highest percentage of any corporate department. Four years ago, 36 percent of fraudsters worked in corporate finance.

The report is a follow-up study to KPMG's 2007 research on worldwide corporate fraud, and is based on the analysis of 348 fraud cases the firm investigated over the past four years. Since the last study, new trends and behaviors have emerged, including the statistic that CEOs are the fastest-growing group of fraudsters today. Indeed, of those committing fraud, 26 percent are chief executives, according to the 2011 analysis, compared with 11 percent in 2007.

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