Senior male in the finance department is a red flag finds KPMG

Employees in the finance department featured in 40% of 100 fraud cases investigated over the last two years by KMPG’s UK forensic arm. The procurement area ranked second with 12.5% and sales third at 10%. Two thirds of the cases involved directors or senior managers, noted Alex Plavsic, national head of fraud investigations. Almost a third of perpetrators had worked for their companies for between 10 and 25 years and while in a third of cases they worked alone, it was more common – in 51% of instances – for there to be collusion between two to five parties. The study revealed that men only were responsible in 72% of cases, women exclusively in 7%, the sexes worked together in 13% while the culprit was unidentified in the remainder. Age profiling indicated a positive association with fraud incidence: 41% of fraudsters were between 36 and 45 and 29% between 46 and 55; only 1% were aged 18 to 25. Personal gain was the most common reason (41%) but financial difficulties also featured in 12.5% of cases. A weak control environment emerged as the explanation in half the cases surveyed. The fraudster abused his or her authorities in just under one in three instances and worked with others on circumvention in 10%. KPMG noted that in 55% of cases the fraudster was dismissed but in just under one in five no action was taken. Only 6% of companies publicized the fraud.