xvii) Fraud

Need to be aware of possibilities of fraud

With claims that corporate fraud is on the increase, eg one study (the Economist, 2014b) found that 70% of companies studied were impacted by fraud in 2013, compared with 61% in 2012. One telltale sign of corporate fraud is people with flamboyant personalities, ie larger-than-life personalities. As 3 times as many frauds are discovered by tip-offs than by any other method, whistleblowers need to be encouraged by being provided with legal protection and financial incentives. Furthermore, firms with fraud hotlines, which staff can call anonymously, suffer smaller losses from fraud and cut by 7 months the exposure gap between the start of an illicit scheme and its discovery.