UK Businesses Make Good Progress to Support Whistleblowers
Half (54%) of UK businesses now have measures
in place to enable whistleblowers to report fraud related or other
suspect activity which is an increase of 35% compared to last year
when only 40% of UK businesses had whistle blowing hotlines,
according to the latest International Business Report (IBR) survey
from finance and business advisors, Grant Thornton UK LLP.
The survey canvassed the opinion of 500
privately held businesses in the UK (unlisted companies including
family, entrepreneurial and SME businesses) to garner their
opinions on what fraud prevention practises are in place in their
companies.
"This is good news as hotlines are an
important safeguard for both companies and employees and are a key
element in creating an ethical business culture. Equally, the
FSA recently reported a doubling in the number of
whistleblowers. This could be down to a number of reasons
but, most likely, the rise is linked to the economic
downturn, when fraud does tend to increase and become more apparent
,"says Sterl Greenhalgh, Forensic Partner at Grant Thornton.
"Furthermore, in the current economic climate,
where moral questions have been raised on such issues as MP's
expenses and on the bonuses of high earners, employees may have
fewer qualms as they see it about 'grassing' co-workers continues
Greenhalgh.
"Whistleblowers should know that they are
currently protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
which protects against dismissal and discriminatory treatment
providing the whistleblower has acted in good faith and has not
gained personally from the disclosure," continues Greenhalgh.
Specialist staff responsible for
preventing and detecting fraud
Furthermore, the survey has revealed that 49%
of these companies employ specialists to detect fraud. Again this
is an increase from last year when only 37% had specialists in
place. Whilst this is a relatively low figure, especially
considering the Bribery Act has now passed into legislation,
it does show that positive action is being taken to implement
procedures and tools to equip firms to mitigate fraud
risk.
In addition to preventing fraud, these
specialists will also have to respond to the new Bribery Act, which
will introduce later this year a new corporate offence of failing
to prevent bribery. Prevention is better than detection, and
preventative measures must be tailored to each businesses' needs.
Companies should begin the review and revision of their existing
policies and procedures for preventing fraud and anti-competition
risk, and adapt and align these to embrace corruption risk" says
Greenhalgh.
"Training staff about corruption will also be
critical if they are to have the confidence of using the company's
whistle blowing hotline," concludes Greenhalgh.
ENDS
For further information, please
contact:
Suvra Datta, Grant Thornton press office, 020
7728 2375 or via email on suvra.datta@gtuk.com