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Fraud: what response?
Russell G Smith
in: Australian CPA, November 1999
Abstract
This paper reports the findings of a number of surveys which have been carried out to determine the extent to which organisations have been victimised by fraud, including the 1999 KPMG Fraud Survey of large Australian businesses, the 1997 Ernst & Young international survey, and the 1994 Deakin University survey of medium size or large businesses in Victoria. The paper then discusses the findings of these surveys in relation to computer related fraud and response to fraud, highlighting the reluctance of managers to report fraud to the police and the reasons for this. Increasing the level of fraud reporting by organisations would help to ensure that similar patterns of offending by the same, or other, offenders are uncovered by police, and that appropriate fraud prevention strategies are identified and implemented, and the paper concludes by considering constructive steps that may be taken to encourage organisations to take official action. These include promoting the need for organisations to have effective fraud control policies; reforming the way in which cases are dealt with in the criminal justice system; the use of fraud reporting 'hot lines' by employees; and the enactment of mandatory reporting legislation to ensure that organisations take official action.