Our recent poll reveals an alarming gap between concern and action regarding fraud. While nearly half (48%) of the 258 surveyed compliance professionals across the UK, Europe, North America, and other key regions consider fraud a high concern, 38% of their organisations haven’t planned any fraud prevention training.

This lack of preparedness is particularly worrying considering the rapidly growing threat of fraud, as evidenced by BDO’s latest FraudTrack report. The report reveals a doubling of fraud cases in the UK, reaching a staggering £2.3 billion in 2023, alongside an 18% rise in reported incidents.

Our findings come just weeks after the UK government launched a major campaign to fight fraud. With fraud now accounting for approximately 40% of all crime in England and Wales, according to UK government data, there is an urgent need for businesses to prioritise preparedness.

Key findings include: 

• Nearly half (48%) of respondents consider fraud a high concern, with 18% rating it as critical. However, 38% of organisations haven’t planned fraud prevention training.
• Over a third (34%) of organisations lack training in preventing tax evasion, a central aspect of financial fraud.
• A concerning 44% rely on spreadsheets to manage policy incident breaches, hindering effective detection and response. Alarmingly, results show that 9% are not using anything for policy incident breaches. 

“Fraud is costing businesses millions. Too often, companies aren’t investing in even the most basic procedures to prevent fraud. If you’re relying on spreadsheets, if you aren’t training your staff, and if you aren’t tracking policy breaches, you are asking to be defrauded,” said Nick Henderson-Mayo, Director of Learning and Content at VinciWorks.

“Tackling fraud requires proactive action. Don’t wait for your bank accounts to be drained before investing in fraud prevention procedures. Spending a little bit of attention now on equipping staff with the knowledge, tools and systems to fight fraud is going to pay dividends in the future. Fighting fraud is about mitigating risk, as well as showing your business is responsible and capable.”

To support compliance professionals in effectively managing failure to prevent fraud risks, we have created a comprehensive free guide to the failure to prevent fraud offences, encompassing bribery, tax evasion and fraud.

In a recent poll carried out by VinciWorks, a global compliance eLearning provider, 258 compliance professionals were surveyed on understanding failure to prevent fraud.