Perpetuity Research launches survey on mandatory reporting of fraud

At present, there’s no legal requirement in England and Wales for a company to report fraud should such an episode occur in a given organisation. This is in direct contrast to money laundering, where those operating in the regulated sector have a duty to raise a Suspicious Activity Report should the activity of money laundering be suspected.

This obviously raises the issue of whether the reporting of fraud should also be made mandatory, meaning that shareholders, employees, suppliers and members of the general public would be fully aware of anything that may adversely affect the viability of a company.

Although there are a number of bodies to which suspected acts of fraud can be reported, among them Action Fraud, there’s generally a low level of reporting from organisations for a variety of reasons, not least the fear of reputational damage to the business concerned.

Some countries have indeed implemented the mandatory reporting of fraud. On that basis, there’s a perceived need to understand further why such a move has been made in order to determine whether such procedures would be workable in England and Wales.

This research aims to help fill a gap in the knowledge around this area in a changing world by exploring the exact impediments to reporting fraud and how they might be overcome. As such, the research will focus on two main research questions: ‘What barriers currently exist that might limit the mandatory reporting of fraud by organisations?’ and ‘What can we learn from other jurisdictions that have made the reporting of fraud mandatory?’

Logistics for the survey

The survey should take approximately ten minutes to complete by interested parties. The deadline for responses is 5.00 pm on Friday 2 July.

Perpetuity Research is not asking for names of the details of the organisation for which any participant is currently working. Further, no identifying factors will be presented in the research findings. This is an anonymous survey.

All information gathered will be used solely for the purposes of this piece of research. At the end of the survey, all participants will be offered the opportunity to receive a copy of the findings and take part in a follow-up interview.

Access the survey online at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Fraudreporting

Fraud challenges in the public sector

In previous Thought Leadership webinars organised by Perpetuity Research as part of the Outstanding Security Performance Awards portfolio, chair Professor Martin Gill CSyP FSyI has heard from numerous presenters about fraud risks, the speed with which financial help has been offered without adequate – or sometimes any – fraud risk assessments and the dangers of people working from home where there are less developed systems of fraud control in place in tandem, of course, with less oversight. 

To what extent are forms of these challenges replicated in the public sector and how are they different? A Thought Leadership webinar on this very topic is running on Thursday 24 June at 3.30 pm until 4.15 pm. It will examine the types of fraud that most impact the public sector and the effectiveness of the response to current fraud challenges. There will also be a discussion of future trends for fraud in the public sector.

*Register to view ‘Fraud Challenges in the Public Sector’