A new online poll by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services found that 27.4 percent of executives reported cuts in their companies compliance and internal audit departments.
Despite the reported decrease in the number of compliance and internal audit personnel, 49.7 percent of the respondents believe their compliance and business ethics programs are strong, and an additional 36 percent say they are adequate. In addition, 18.2 percent of the more than 1,790 executives polled by Deloitte FAS for a September webcast on litigation risks said they are more concerned about their company becoming a target of securities litigation now than they were two years ago.
Surveyed about which activities would most benefit their organization to reduce corruption and fraud risks, respondents cited more fraud awareness training (32.4 percent), expansion of internal audit monitoring procedures (23.1 percent), more robust fraud risk assessment (18.3 percent), and more oversight from the board and audit committee (7.5 percent).
