Frightening Fraud Statistics – Protect Your Business Now!
In Sub-Saharan Africa
- Over 60% of frauds were committed by people with a degree (in view of the large number of fake degrees consider carefully checking qualifications when hiring).
- 82% of perpetrators were male with an average age of 38.
- 18% came from the accounting department, 17% from operations and 11% from purchasing.
In global terms
- 5% of revenues are lost due to fraud. This applies to large and small entities but clearly will have a greater impact on small entities.
- The best method of fraud detection is by tip-off (approximately 30% of cases), followed by management review (15%), internal audit (12%) and account reconciliation (just under 10%). If you don’t have a tip-off or whistle blower policy, now is the time to do it. Most of the other detection methods come from active management control.
- Most frauds come from asset theft and the largest (by value) from financial mis-statement.
- 90% of background checks did not pick up any indication of malfeasance and 82% of fraudsters had not been punished by their organisations. Something also to consider – and check with previous employers - when recruiting.
- Fraud losses were detected much faster and the loss was 34% less in entities with strong controls.
- Those committing fraud typically showed some of these characteristics:
- “Wheeler dealer” personalities
- Financial problems
- Living beyond their means
- Control issues
- Strong relationship with a vendor
- Family difficulties such as divorce.
- “Wheeler dealer” personalities
Provided by May and Company
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