Nearly half of top managers aware of fraud in their company

One in five employees witnessed financial manipulation in their company in the 12 months to December 2012 according to a survey covering Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa by Ernst & Young. The figure rises to 26% for rapid growth markets. [1] Responses from over 3,000 board members, management and their teams across 36 countries confirmed that internal numbers were flattered by premature recognition of sales, understating costs and insisting customers purchase stock before it was needed. Executives were clearly on notice with 42% of board directors and senior managers aware of irregular financial reporting in their own organisation. Almost the same proportion (38%) of respondents were sceptical about the accuracy of numbers reported by other companies in their country; rates were even higher in some jurisdictions: 61% in Spain, India (54%), Russia (61%) and Nigeria (68%).