Internal auditors are suffering a skill
shortage in fraud prevention, according to an inaugural fraud
survey by Deloitte UK.
Deloitte found that while 63% of companies
indicated their vulnerability to fraud has increased in the past 18
months, more than 50% view their internal audit staff levels as too
low to deal with the risk. A fifth of respondents admitted to
having no documented fraud policy at all.
Despite 96% of respondents claiming senior
management endorse and encourage fraud risk management, the
majority of the senior management who responded still believe fraud
detection is part of the internal auditor’s responsibilities.
More than half of them believe they have
neither the skills to handle investigative fraud evidence nor
appropriate data analysis skills.
Business process and risk consulting partner
at Deloitte Kirsty Searle’s said organisations must implement more
effective internal fraud management processes with sufficient
resources and training for ‘disgruntled’ employees.
The survey was conducted amongst heads of
internal audit from businesses with an average turnover of £500m
($801m) in May and June 2010.
