The typical fraudster — the threat from within

It's time to keep an eye on your manager: The typical fraudster is male, 36-45 years old and in a senior management position, according to auditor firm KPMG.

KMPG Forensic associate director, Stan Gallo, outlined the findings of KPMG's 2010 fraud survey to the audience at an Attachmate briefing in Sydney.

In Australia and New Zealand, the typical fraudster is male, in a non-management position, has been an employee for five years and has been in their current role for three years, has no history of fraud, is about 38 years of age and is earning about $113,000 per year. Greed has outstripped gambling as the core reason for committing fraud, with fraudsters stealing on average $229,000 in 2010.

A survey by auditor firm KPMG has pegged the value of fraud in Australia at $345 million last year: An average of $3,000,000 per incident of fraud up from $1,530,000 in 2008.

However, the impact of fraud on a business, Gallo said, is not merely financial. There are many indirect impacts — such as the need to reset all system passwords or a team breaking up and staff leaving the company due to the breakdown in trust between workmates.

The presentation was based on a global survey conducted bi-annually by KPMG with some 248 respondents across 64 countries. The survey found that of the 180,000 cases of fraud it examined, 65 per cent involved employees. These incidents represented 98 per cent of the value of the total cases.

Thirty per cent of fraud cases were ignored or missed, with fraud being typically detected by internal processes 12 months after it has been committed.

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