Four out of five companies have experienced corporate fraud in the past three years, according to a newly released report.
The report, from risk-consulting company Kroll and the Economist Intelligence Unit, found that one in 10 large companies loses over $100 million per year to fraud. In some sectors, such as health care and financial services, more than a fifth of companies have lost over $1 million to fraud.
The report, based on a survey of 892 senior executives, found that 34 percent of them reported theft of physical assets or stock. A fifth of companies suffered from information theft, self-dealing, financial mismanagement, internal financial fraud, procurement fraud, or corruption and bribery.
High staff turnover led to increased exposure to fraud, according to 32 percent of the executives surveyed, while complex IT arrangements were cited by 31 percent of the respondents. More than 30 percent said that IT complexity has increased their exposure to fraud. Corruption and bribery have hit 39 percent of the companies polled in the Middle East and Africa, compared to 29 percent in Eastern Europe and Latin America, 14 percent in Western Europe and 9 percent in North America.
