Research suggests fraud blindness is rampant in business and organisations
A collaboration between our University and experienced fraud investigators has resulted in research which could provide a breakthrough. Fraud investigator and doctoral student Veronica Morino (pictured) claims that many organisations and multi-national companies are mostly blind to fraud and that the emergence of an industry of ‘fraud specialists’ is profiting from this fact.
In the wake of high-profile scandals in multi-nationals across the globe, her research highlights an increasing gap between the reality of fraud and how people and organisations are trying to counteract it. Veronica Morino has co-authored a book and published articles in a practitioner journal on fraud and corruption in organisations.
Ms Morino said: “Organisations have always been affected by fraud and have, through the years, established a series of protective measures. However, the general consensus is that, in spite of the increased volume of governance, fraud is not decreasing nor have companies proved able to deal with it more effectively.
“I think that there is an important distinction to be made between protective measures as generally practiced today, and real resistance. This requires including an organisational and sociological dimension in a holistic response to fraud management.
“With my research I would like to offer this new perspective and help organisations understand where they stand today and how they can take their anti-fraud work to the next level.”
Ms Morino said she hoped that her engagement with academia and practitioners would prove to be of real benefit: “More and more people from both worlds see the benefit of a dialogue between academics and practitioners. It has been very interesting to test some of the concepts that I have been exploring as a PhD student at my training sessions with corporate audiences. Feedback from those sessions has allowed me to further develop my work. Corporates are really interested and often want to use the concepts before they are academically tested so I have found myself holding back at times. It feels like a win-win for both universes.”