Countering Fraud for Competitive Advantage: The Professional Approach to Reducing the Last Great Hidden Cost

11

Reaping the New Competitive Advantage

11.1 INTRODUCTION

In this final chapter we return to the central theme of the book and bring together the arguments made throughout. In an era of tighter budgets and more competitive markets, organisations are looking for innovative ways to reduce costs. Many strategies and innovative ideas have been pursued, from contracting out to flatter management structures, to achieve what is often described as ‘competitive advantage’.1 One measure which has not been on the ‘radar’ of the vast majority of organisations to achieve this aim is investing in measures to counter fraud. This book has shown how fraud is a major cost, how it can be measured, but most significantly how a comprehensive approach can be created, which has been proven to substantially reduce this cost. This final chapter will bring together the key aspects of this strategy and then show how average returns could impact on the profitability of the world's leading companies.

11.2 BRINGING THE COUNTER-FRAUD STRATEGY TOGETHER

Throughout this book we have set out a case for fraud to be treated like any other business cost and a model to reduce that cost, which is proven, and which can bring substantial benefits for the organisation in reaping a competitive advantage.

Figure 11.1 was originally produced for the UK Government as part of its ‘Fraud Review’ project to make the UK the hardest target for fraudsters of any country in the world.2 It brings together the arguments made in this ...