SURVEY SAVVY
ricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2005 “Global Economic Crime
Survey” of more than 3,600 executives in 34 countries found that 45%
of companies were victims of fraud—up 8 percentage points from 2003 (
www.pwcglobal.com/gx/eng/cfr/gecs/ ). Losses for all respondents
exceeded $2 billion, with larger companies reporting the greatest
number of incidents.
Upon discovering fraud, 81% of companies launched internal investigations and informed their boards of directors. In financial misrepresentation cases, 89% of companies investigated, but only 84% of them informed their boards and only half told their audit committees. Surprisingly, despite the growing risk, only 21% of respondents expected to be fraud victims in the next five years.
