 su53 solutions is seeing an increase in the number companies looking for independent advice on system security, risk and compliance issues, and asking for help to design, develop and implement sustainable solutions.
This experience is borne out by the recently published 2009 survey from Ernst and Young (available at www.ey.com) looking into European employees’ attitudes towards corporate fraud. It reveals an increasing tolerance of unethical behaviour and outright fraud. Also, more than half (55%) of the 2,246 individuals surveyed expected fraud to increase over the coming years.
Tolerance for a problem that is getting worse : The view of those surveyed across Europe was that businesses will focus on meeting financial targets to maintain high levels of compensation and bonuses, and will reduce the efforts made to detect and eliminate fraud.
Surprisingly, making cash payments to win business was seen by 25% of the respondents as acceptable, whilst 8% of the respondents had no qualms about deliberately misstating the company’s financial performance.
Management is part of the problem : All levels of management of companies are seen as part of the problem, with senior management / middle management being the levels in an organization where there is perceived to be the biggest opportunity and the greatest risk of fraud being committed.
88% of the respondents think their management is likely to cut corners to meet targets and only 24% believed that their company’s management operates with a high level of personal integrity.
A wake up call? With fraud now starting to feature large on the corporate agenda, the report suggests that now is time for corporate management to look to news ways of combating fraud.
About the survey : Conducted in February 2009, it comprised a total of 2,246 interviews with employees in 22 European countries either by telephone or online. Participants were employed by listed and/or multinational companies with over 1,000 employees. 48% worked for companies with over 5,000 employees, 92% over 5,000 employees.
su53 conclusion: Reliance on management and employees within corporations to operate within legal boundaries seems to be diminishing, and auditors are pushing for annual statements of Enterprise Risks and the strategies being employed to manage them. We also know from a recent CIO Study by IBM, mitigating Enterprise Risks is a major “time stealer” for the CIOs.
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