Managing Fraud Risk: A Practical Guide for Directors and Managers

Answers to the Quiz

Fraud Awareness Quiz – Question 1

Who is responsible for preventing and detecting fraud in your organisation?

The first question of the Quiz addresses the issue of responsibility directly. The answers given by delegates on my courses and the points arising in the subsequent discussions provide me with a good indicator of how effective fraud prevention, deterrence and detection is likely to be within the individual organisations represented in the room on a particular day. When taken together over the years, these answers provide a useful insight into a number of general attitudes to fraud that are common in business organisations today that can lead to vulnerabilities in day-to-day practice.

The answers given to the question will vary of course depending on the mix of experience and backgrounds of delegates on any one day. Nevertheless, there are similarities and patterns from which conclusions may be drawn. Set out below are the most often repeated comments and discussion points that I have heard, in order of frequency:

• “Everyone”. Most delegates write down one word as their answer to this question – everyone. This is now by far the most popular response I get in any discussions around responsibility, not only when discussing fraud specifically but also in a wider risk management context too. It was not always so: 12 years ago when I started lecturing on fraud most people would nominate specific individuals or departments such as “Internal Audit” or “Security” ...