Which statement is an analytical symptom of inventory fraud?

The statement that describes an analytical symptom of inventory fraud is related to the shipping costs as a percentage of inventory decreasing. This is significant because consistent or decreasing shipping costs as inventory levels fluctuate can indicate manipulation or misrepresentation of inventory levels. In a legitimate operation, you would typically expect shipping costs to correlate with inventory levels. A decrease in the percentage could suggest that inventory is not accurately represented or that fraud may be occurring, potentially indicating overstatement of inventory on hand or attempts to disguise losses.

In contrast, missing inventory records, poor design of counting methods, or large write-offs of inventory after the accounting period may reflect poor management practices or operational inefficiencies rather than direct analytical anomalies indicative of fraud. While these issues are concerning and could lead to misstatements, they do not inherently suggest fraud in the same manner as the trend related to shipping costs. The shipping costs indicator is particularly insightful for identifying potential fraudulent activity in how inventory is reported and managed.