Stopping your company from being a target for fraud and corruption

While it may not make the daily headlines like armed robbery, the white-collar crime of fraud, according to an Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) report, is costing companies a whopping $6 billion-plus annually. AIC data also reveals that the most common fraud is more about more individual acts of corruption – a.k.a misappropriations  like employees falsely claiming overtime or procurement fraud for non-business expenses, shrinkage or small but regular revenue skimming, than grandiose acts of organised crime.

Add these types of impropriety together with Internet and email scams, identity theft and fraud, financial statement fraud, bribes, bogus invoicing and insurance claims, plus loan fraud and the total fraud-count represents over 40 percent of the cost of all crime in Australia.

Given that up to 63 percent of Australian organisations experience economic crime over a two-year period – according to a former Standards Australia report on fraud and corruption control – it’s likely your company is a primary target.