More than half of U.S. organizations that experienced fraud in the past two years reported an increase in the number of occurrences, according to a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers that also found a rise in accounting fraud, bribery and corruption, with cybercrime moving to the forefront of U.S. companies’ concerns.
PwC US found a continuing upward trend in the occurrence and detection of economic crime, according to the Global Economic Crime Survey 2014 that the firm released. Forty-five percent of organizations in the U.S. reported that they suffered from some type of fraud in the past two years, more than the global average of 37 percent.
Two types of fraud – accounting fraud, and bribery and corruption – increased in 2014.
Accounting fraud at U.S. businesses essentially rebounded to 2009 levels (23 percent in 2014 vs. 24 percent in 2009), after experiencing a drop to 16 percent in 2011. Similarly, bribery and corruption at 14 percent doubled from 2011 levels (7 percent) after dropping by more than a half since 2009 (16 percent).
The increase in accounting fraud and bribery and corruption may be attributable in part to more companies implementing or enhancing internal controls, more robust compliance programs and increased risk assessments, thus leading to more frauds being detected, the report noted.
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Source: Michael Cohn, Accounting Today
