How Compliance Officers Can Effectively Control Bribery and Fraud
By Adam Decker, Marketing −
Compliance officers must exercise diligence to keep money out of sticky hands.
Every organization is potentially at risk from corruption, whether it’s internal theft, misuse of corporate funds, bribery, or fraud.
Criminal employees must be very crafty in the way they plan to gain access to money and cover up their tracks, knowing that getting caught will lead to prosecution by the authorities.
The objective of any organization should be to reduce the risk of financial theft through tight financial controls. A compliance officer should always work closely with a chief financial officer, a comptroller and internal auditors.
Any procedures that could allow unauthorized access to money need to be identified and segregated from other duties carried out by an employee. This will help minimize the main risk ― that the potential gain will make employees susceptible to bribery.
Global Opportunities for Fraud
In a global organization, there will be employees in each country who are authorized to use money for expenditures. Having these expenditures spread out across the world increases the rise of fraud, bribery and misuse of funds.
Companies should take great care to regulate these employees to prevent fraudulent activities.
Finding an Effective Compliance System
An effective system for financial security goes a long way towards reducing the risks. Proper measures must be put in place to protect accounts and any system that allows financial transactions to be made.
Any employee who needs to exceed an authorized amount for expenditures must be required to apply for this at a more senior level and permission to access these funds should be officially authorized in writing.
Those authorized to access the financial system should only have access to their own funding and should not be able to access any other accounts. By enforcing strict security policies regarding passwords and financial data, companies will help keep access to money more restricted.
Internal Auditors Have a Role to Play
Internal auditors should be able to cover all areas of risk, not just the obvious activities that might involve serious financial risk. They should also look at expenditures in areas where the potential risk will have less impact, including corporate entertainment, business travel and gifts.
Internal auditing plays a critical role in any financial system, but leaving financial controls solely to internal auditors is a mistake no organization can afford to make. Much tighter controls are necessary to cover all areas of risk. Internal auditors and compliance officers need to work hand in hand to cover all the loopholes.
When dealing with fraud investigations, compliance officers must deal with individuals who may wish to hide their activities. In cases such as those, EyeDetect™, a new lie detection test, could prove invaluable. EyeDetect is simple to use, making training quick and easy. This could prove invaluable when seeking the culprits of fraud.
