As bad as it's ever been
A report on corporate criminality in Poland recently prepared by Deloitte shows that companies here still suffer from being cheated by their own staff.
"Unfortunately, this year the figures haven't changed much," the chairman of Deloitte in Poland, Maria Rzepnikowska said.
According to the report, which was based on a survey conducted among different enterprises, unnecessary purchases remain the most common form of fraud in corporations, with embezzlement of funds and unauthorised use of computers following next on the list. While companies reported that bribery and private shopping with company money have become less frequent over the past two years, stealing information and the aforementioned unauthorised use of computers are more common than before. "This is due to the fact that computers and IT are more widely used," the manager of the corporate- crime department at Deloitte, Agnieszka Gawrońska-Malec, said.
When it comes to external corporate crime - that is, crimes committed by those not working in the company - manipulating the tender process, hidden commissions and bribery top the list, though it is worth noting that the number of companies complaining about these issues has noticeably decreased. The only external corporate crime increasing in frequency is computer hacking. "It is related to the growing importance of IT, and I'm afraid it will grow," Gawrońska-Malec said.
When it comes to departments in which abuse is most likely to occur, sales and logistics are well ahead of the rest. "Both departments have contact with the outer world and both have money flowing through them," Gawrońska-Malec explained.
The consequences of corporate criminality and abuse can be grave. Apart from financial losses, which are the most obvious result, a company may also lose its reputation, as well as its contracts or clients, while employee morale could be dented.
"Very often employees leave the company when accusations, gossips and speculation get out of hand," Rzepnikowska explained.
According to the authors a company can organise trainings and create internal mechanisms, such as an audit, in order to fight corruption in its ranks. Prevention should start at the recruitment stage. As far as external abuse is concerned, cooperation with clients and suppliers should be closely monitored, and a clearly defined corporate procedure should be mapped out.
