About 59 pc of entities surveyed faced financial frauds in the past 24 months: PwC survey

PwC’s Global Economic Crime survey 2024 shows rising financial fraud in India

Many Indian organizations faced financial or economic fraud in the past 24 months where procurement fraud emerged as the top threat, a PwC survey said. PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey 2024 analyzed the responses of 2,446 heads of organizations across the world, of which 91 were from India, on the most disruptive economic crimes affecting their sector and ways of mitigating risks of fraud and non-compliance.

More than 50 percent of the respondents held top positions and comprised board members, CEOs, managing directors, and presidents, PwC said. It said, “59 percent of the Indian organizations surveyed said that they had faced financial or economic fraud in the past 24 months. This is 18 percent higher than the global average of 41 percent and 7 percent higher in India when compared to the results of the 2022 edition of the same survey.”

The survey further said the 2024 edition of the survey indicates that procurement fraud is now a predominant issue for Indian businesses, with 50 percent of respondents identifying it as a major problem, marking a significant 21 percent increase compared to the global sentiment. In contrast, in 2022, customer fraud was reported as the top concern by 47 percent of businesses. Globally, 44 percent of leaders highlight cyber crime as their top concern, the survey said.

“Historically, one of the oldest economic crimes, procurement fraud involves illegal manipulation of procurement processes for financial gain. This year, half of our respondents in India identified it as their major worry,” Puneet Garkhel, Partner and Leader, Forensic Services at PwC India, said. Being one of the most disruptive economic crimes, procurement fraud cuts across industries and processes, Garkhel added.

While Indian companies are using data analytics to combat procurement fraud with 52 percent analyzing transactions pre-deal and 46 percent post-deal, only 37 percent employ real-time payment monitoring with the capacity to block suspicious transactions. The survey also revealed that about 33 percent of all economic crimes are related to corruption and bribery.

For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.

The post About 59 pc of entities surveyed faced financial frauds in the past 24 months: PwC survey appeared first on PGurus.