Economic fraud are subject to permanent changes due to their specificity. Globalization, free movement of capital and people, extraordinary development of information technologies, new communication methods and transaction opportunities are strongly influencing the development of fraud. Practice shows that the offenders have professional knowledge in these areas and are able to use any legal loophole in order to decriminalize frauds or effectively conceal them. It is also stated that the more competitive the economic conditions, the more sophisticated the fraud. Therefore, the development and implementation of an effective fraud detection system is not an easy process for business entities. Audit is considered as one of the tools helping to detect financial fraud. Due to the increasing scale of fraudulent transactions and other types of fraud, it is recommended to audit financial statements even if it is not imposed as an accounting obligation on the entity. Auditing also affects positive opinions about an organization among potential investors. The aim of this article is to present most frequently used terms defining business fraud as well as the theoretical and practical aspects of auditing as a supporting tool in detecting fraud.