EY have today released their latest Global Fraud Survey which was carried out among over 2,800 C-suite Executives in 62 countries including Ireland.
The report shows that two out of five (38%) senior decision makers in Irish companies would be prepared to take potentially unethical actions to help their business survive an economic downturn.
The number of Irish business leaders who believe bribery and corrupt practices are widespread has halved from 16% in 2014 to 8% in 2016. This compares to 28% of senior decision makers in British businesses who believed that bribery and corruption was very prevalent in the UK.
However, despite their belief that bribery does not exist in their sector, Irish executives said they would be prepared to engage in potentially unethical behaviour to win or retain business including using client entertainment (30%), making cash payments (10%), giving personal gifts (10%) and misstating a company’s financial performance (4%).
Furthermore, despite only 4% of respondents saying they would misstate financial statements, almost half (46%) of Irish business leaders identified actions that could be justified to meet financial targets, an increase from 43% in 2014. These actions included providing more flexible product return policies (44%), extending monthly reporting periods (20%), changing assumptions determining valuations or reserves (14%) and backdating a contract (10%).
Partner & Head of EY’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, Julie Fenton said, "Our research shows a clear disconnect between the perception and reality of bribery and corruption in Irish business today."
She added, "While it is encouraging to see that fewer Irish business leaders believe these practices are widespread, this is not reflected in our findings which show that when the pressure is on to pull through an economic downturn or meet financial targets, a high proportion of Irish executives would be prepared to let their ethics slide."
Source: www.businessworld.ie