According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) 2020 Report to the Nations, 21% of the studied cases resulted in fraud losses to the organisation of USD 1 million+.
It is estimated that 5% of revenue is lost to fraud globally (>USD 4.5 trillion per year).
The most common industries reported to ACFE were banking and financial services, government and public administration, and manufacturing. (It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that more fraud occurs in these sectors; it might simply indicate that organisations in these industries employ more Certified Fraud Examiners than others.)
The mining industry suffered the highest median loss of USD 475,000, while frauds in the energy sector had the next-highest median loss of USD 275,000. Manufacturing was high at USD 198,000 median loss.
Corruption (conflicts of interest, bribery, kickbacks, illegal gratuities) is the most common fraud. There are many potential red flags to look out for. The most common departments associated with fraud were:
Operations
Accounting
Executive/upper management
Sales
To help guard against fraud, PCA can provide your company with an independent, objective assessment of any chemical, equipment or control strategy. Based on hard data from the process.
The 2020 Report to the Nations – the ACFE’s 11th study on the costs and effects of occupational fraud—represents the latest in a series of reports dating back to the first edition published in 1996.