ABAC® is celebrating 2021 International Fraud Awareness Week, also called “Fraud Week” ahead of November 14-20 and is in full swing. Our parent brand CRI® Group is a proud supporter of this important initiative every year, and we encourage business leaders to take this time to consider all of their fraud prevention measures, including anti-fraud training for employees.
Does your organisation have a training program in place that addresses fraud, bribery and corruption? And, if so, how robust is your training? How often is it administered? And how do you know it’s working?
These are important questions, especially considering the fact that we know most fraud is discovered internally through employee tips. A recent case study is a perfect illustration of that.
Fraud Week reminds us that awareness is any organisation’s first line of defence against fraud and corruption, as properly trained employees will have a better opportunity to recognise the red flags of fraud, and a better understanding of their organisation’s zero-tolerance policy toward such behaviour.
ABAC® Center of Excellence provides employee training as part of the curriculum for a participating organisation. In fact, ISO 37001:2016 certifies that your organisation has implemented reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent bribery, and these measures involve training, top-level leadership, bribery risk assessment, due diligence adequacy, financial and commercial controls, reporting, audit and investigation.
Some key things to remember:
- Anti-fraud training should be mandatory: this includes managers and executives, who should also receive special training regarding their position of responsibility.
- Anti-fraud training should be an element of new employee orientation: after that, it should be provided to all employees on an annual basis, if not more frequently.
- Training might be presented live (in-class), on video or online in an interactive format: the live class is preferred, as it allows questions and personal engagement. However, in today’s business world, some employees work remotely and an online format may be more feasible.
Fraud is everybody’s problem, and it cannot be prevented and detected if employees aren’t provided with the information they need to combat it. Providing a robust anti-fraud training program increases your company’s protection from risks of fraud and unethical behaviour. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.
Join the global effort to minimise the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education
Join ABAC® and our parent brand CRI® Group in the fight against fraud. ABAC® provides a great set of the following tools to go a step further in your role and to start discussions amongst peers, co-workers, executives and stakeholders in your community about how important fraud prevention is to society as a whole:
- Post on social media using new badges and informative images with the tag #fraudweek
- Add the new Official Fraud Week Supporter badge to your email signature.
- Invite a CFE to talk to your employees and co-workers virtually on how to avoid common mistakes when preventing fraud.
- Download the free Fraud Week logo to share on materials or websites.
- Issue a proclamation declaring that your support of Fraud Week.
- Host a talk or seminar for your co-workers or community on regularly staying aware of fraud prevention best practices. Let us know if you want help from ABAC or CRI (we are happy to join). You can post that event to share what you are doing on our events page too.
- Perform a fraud check-up (ACFE) for your organisation and present your findings to executives, as well as a proactive plan for how to remedy weak spots in your current controls.
Learn more about how ABAC® Center of Excellence can help you have a well-trained workforce serving as your front line of defence against fraud, bribery and corruption.
About ABAC®
Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC®) Center of Excellence, is an independent certification body that provides education and certification services for individuals and organisations on a wide range of disciplines and ISO standards, including ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management- Guidelines, ISO 37000:2021 Governance of Organisations, ISO 37002:2021 Whistleblowing Management System, ISO 37301:2021 (formerly ISO 19600) Compliance Management system, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems.
ABAC® is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS CB number: 10613) against ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of the scheme’s management systems of ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS). This makes ABAC® Certification the leading accreditated certification body specialising in global anti-bribery and anti-corruption, risk and compliance management system standards. ABAC® experts audit any existing compliance and anti-bribery anti-corruption management systems to assess effectiveness and vulnerabilities, while ensuring your organisation complies with Internal Standards, FCPA, UK Bribery Act, Anti-Money Laundering regulations, and all other global, regional and local regulations while maintaining a competitive edge in the world marketplace.
ABAC® Center of Excellence, powered by CRI® Group, educates, equips and supports the world’s leading business organisations with the latest best-in-practice risk assessments, performance assessments, systems improvement and standards certification.
ABAC® offers a complete suite of solutions designed to help organisations mitigate the internal and external risks associated with operating in multi-jurisdiction and multi-cultural environments while assisting in the development of frameworks for strategic compliance programs.
If you are seeking to validate or expand your existing compliance frameworks to maintain a competitive edge in the world marketplace ABAC® can help you. Our experts audit your existing compliance and anti-bribery anti-corruption management systems to assess effectiveness and vulnerabilities, while ensuring your organisation complies with Internal Standards, FCPA rules, UK Bribery Act laws, Anti-Money Laundering regulations, and all other global, regional and local regulations.
