Survey: 28% of top Irish executives believe corruption has got worse

Almost double the amount of professionals in Ireland — compared to the rest of Western Europe — believe there has been an increase in bribery and corruption since the onset of the economic downturn.

The latest annual global fraud survey from Ernst & Young shows that 28% of senior executives here feel such activity has increased over the past four years, as opposed to 16% across Western Europe.

More than 1,700 executives — including chief financial officers and heads of legal and internal auditing committees — across 43 countries were surveyed.

The Irish aspect of the study also found that 20% of executives feel that bribery occurs “widely” in Ireland. Over one third of the global respondents view bribery as being widespread in their cou-ntry, with the problem perceived to be signific-antly higher in emerging markets such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey.

A further gap between Ireland and its neighbours is apparent in that 50% of Western European participants said they believe that people were being penalised for breaching their company’s internal policies, with only 28% of Irish respondents agreeing that such punishment was being carried out here.

According to Ernst & Young’s Julie Fenton: & “Advances have been made by Irish companies in establishing frameworks and fraud-related policies and procedures. In 2011, 60% of respondents believed senior management strongly communicated its commitment to anti-bribery and corruption policies, this figure increased by 20% (up to 80%) in 2012.

“However, there is still work to be done by companies in being seen to follow through on the tone from the top.

“Growth and ethical business conduct in today’s markets can appear to be competing priorities. Our findings show that, as businesses continue to pursue opportunities in new markets, many executives are underestimating the risks. Boards need to put pressure on management to conduct more frequent and more robust anti-bribery or anti-corruption risk assessments and they need more tailored reporting to drive improved compliance.”