'Corporates ill-prepared for cross-border frauds'

Mumbai, May 30: Corporates across the world are highly vulnerable to fraudulence owing to their inability to cap cross border crimes, says a research conducted by KPMG International.

Despite a quantum of offenses witnessed in recent past, nearly 92 per cent of coporate officials surveyed are yet to install comprehensive investigation tools to tackle crimes while nearly 60 per cent acknowledged the need for planned investigations.

The survey, which pointed out an alarming rise in fraudster activities operating undeterred by global boundaries, has called for better surveillance from companies against offenders.

''Companies need an effective fraud detection and investigative mechanism. Ineffective investigations falls adversely upon the organisation's reputation, risk management abilities and corporate commitment,'' said KPMG head Deepanker Sanwalka.

Corporate executives surveyed by KPMG also indicated multiple factors that paved roadblocks in cross-border investigations which mainly include differences in culture and language, lack of technical skills in investigating teams and non-accessibility of electronic data.

According to the survey, nearly 27 per cent of the companies had not given the required training to their investigators leaving the teams unable to cope up with fraudsters.

The survey was conducted during 2006-07 among 103 senior business executives from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

KPMG is a global network of professional firms who provide audit, tax and advisory services. The organisation has presence in 148 countries.

UNI