ACFE Report Provides Insights on Occupational Fraud in Europe

Corruption, Billing Schemes Most Common Among Fraud Cases in Survey

Austin, TX (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 28, 2010 -- The median fraud loss for organisations in Europe is about 485,000 euro, according to a survey of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated cases between January 2008 and December 2009. The study found corruption and billing schemes were the leading types of fraud reported in European cases and others throughout the world.

The U.S.-based Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) published the results of the survey in its highly-anticipated 2010 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud & Abuse. For the first time, the Report includes global data among the 1,843 cases of fraud that were studied.

Information from CFEs in 106 nations was compiled to develop the benchmarking statistics on occupational fraud losses, detection methods and perpetrators. Since 2002, the biannual Report has evolved and been modified to continue to draw more meaningful information from the experiences of CFEs and the frauds they encounter.

Key findings from the 84-page Report include:

Fraud schemes among European organisations are extremely costly. Worldwide, the median loss caused by the occupational fraud cases in the ACFE study was $160,000 (U.S.) – yet for the 157 European cases studied, the median loss was three times higher ($600,000, or about 485,000 euro).

Most fraud perpetrators are management level or higher. More than 50 percent of perpetrators in the European cases included in the study were managers, and 17.7 percent were owners/executives.

Fraud committed from the top of an organisation is the most damaging. While the study found that the median loss from fraud committed by employees and managers was nearly the same (about 274,000 and 282,000 euro, respectively), fraud committed by owners/executives caused a significantly higher median loss of about 1.6 million euro.

There is a significant gender gap among European fraud cases. More than 82 percent of the European frauds in the study were perpetrated by males, marking the largest gender gap among world regions except for Asia. By contrast, less than 60 percent of North American cases were perpetrated by males.

More frauds are detected by tip than by other means. In a trend reflected worldwide, the impact of anonymous fraud hotlines is clear, as 40 percent of the European frauds in the study were detected by tip, followed by internal audit (17.4 percent) and management review (16.1 percent).

The Report also details findings such as how organizations were affected based upon industry, how the implementation of anti-fraud controls affected exposure to fraud, additional breakdowns of fraud statistics by geographical region and the most common behavioural traits observed among fraud perpetrators.

The 2010 Report to the Nations is available for download online at the ACFE’s web site: ACFE.com/RTTN. The Report is in PDF format.

The first Report to the Nation was published by the ACFE in 1996. The ACFE has published subsequent editions in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and now 2010. Over that time, the Report has come to be regarded as the most authoritative statistical resource available on occupational fraud.

About the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
The ACFE is the world's largest anti-fraud organization and premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. Together with more than 50,000 members, the ACFE is reducing business fraud world-wide and inspiring public confidence in the integrity and objectivity within the profession.

For more information about the ACFE, visit www.ACFE.com.

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