A national survey of over 5,100 employees found close to one third (28%) of Australian workers say they have been bullied in the workforce, while 42 per cent of employees report having witnessed their colleagues being bullied or discriminated against at work.

The 2011 Workplace Pulse Quarterly survey, conducted by employment screening solution provider, WorkPro, revealed bullying and discrimination remain prominent features of the Australian workplace. One quarter of employees (23%) say that they have been a victim of bullying or discrimination in the workplace in the last two years, while 12 per cent report that it has happened multiple times.

The findings come as the Victorian state government sent a clear signal to workplace bullies last week with bullying now considered a criminal offence in Victoria. Changes to the Crimes Amendment (Bullying) Bill 2011 mean Victorian workplace bullies could now face up to 10 years jail.

Tania Evans, Manager of WorkPro, said that employers need to realise that bullying and unfair treatment in the workplace are more common than they think, and they must put strategies in place to help tackle the problem.

“These are issues that over 40 per cent of employees say they have witnessed which seriously affects workplace culture and could put employers at risk of liability from OHS claims,” Ms Evans said.

“Last week’s amendment to the Crimes Act in Victoria makes it clear that threats and abusive words or acts which amount to bullying will incur serious consequences for anyone who engages in this type of behaviour,” Ms Evans said.

However, when compared to WorkPro’s previous survey, the 2011 results are very similar to those seen in 2008, indicating that many employers are still not addressing these issues.

“Employers need to be proactive about making sure employees get the information they need to understand their rights and responsibilities at work. They also need to ensure employees feel they can report inappropriate behaviour,” Ms Evans said.

Ms Evans emphasised that education needs to involve a clear reporting line for bullying and discrimination. She says that individuals working in temp placements are most confused about these reporting lines, with 47 per cent unsure of whether they report to the recruitment agency or the host employer.

Refer Workplace Pulse Quarterly Survey: Bullying and Equal Employment Opportunity @ http://www.workpro.com.au/

The total cost of fraud is increasing: $345.4 million was lost to fraud compared to $301.1 million two years ago. Respondents believed that only a third of total losses are being detected.

The value per fraud is increasing: The number of separate frauds reported fell when compared with the 2008 survey, yet the average fraud rose from $1.5 million in 2008 to $3 million in 2010.

65 percent of major frauds are committed by people already working in the organisation who usually act alone. The main motivator for fraud was greed and lifestyle.

Internal Controls and Whistleblowers remain the two major means of detection.

The ACFE’s 2010 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse is based on data compiled from a study of 1,843 cases of occupational fraud that occurred worldwide between January 2008 and December 2009. All information was provided by the Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated those cases. The fraud cases in our study came from 106 nations — with more than 40% of cases occurring in countries outside the United States — providing a truly global view into the plague of occupational fraud.

This allowed the ACFE to more fully explore the truly global nature of occupational fraud and provides an enhanced view into the severity and impact of these crimes. Additionally, ACFE were able to compare the anti-fraud measures taken by organizations worldwide in order to give fraud fighters everywhere the most applicable and useful information to help them in their fraud prevention and detection efforts.

Survey participants estimated that the typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenue to fraud. Applied to the estimated 2009 Gross World Product, this figure translates to a potential total fraud loss of more than $2.9 trillion. The median loss caused by the occupational fraud cases in the ACFE study was $160,000. Nearly one-quarter of the frauds involved losses of at least $1 million. The frauds lasted a median of 18 months before being detected.

Tips were by far the most common detection method (40.2%), catching nearly three times as many frauds as any other form of detection. This is consistent with the findings of ACFE reports since 2002 . Tips remain by far and away the most common means of detection. Management review and internal audit were the second and third most common forms of detection, uncovering 15% and 14% of frauds, respectively. It is also noting that 11% of frauds were detected through channels that lie completely outside of the traditional anti-fraud control structure: accident, police notification and confession. In other words, 11% of the time, the victim organization either had to stumble onto the fraud or be notified of it by a third party in order to detect it.

The report highlighted that only 25% of Australian (Oceania) organisations had hotlines compared with more than one-half of USA entities even though disclosures (tips) were the major source for highlighting fraud.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners recommended “Organisations should implement hotlines to receive tips from both internal and external sources. Such reporting mechanisms should allow anonymity and confidentiality, and employees be encouraged to report suspicious activity without fear of reprisal.”

The ACFE also found the organisations tend to over-rely on audits. Employee education is the foundation of preventing and detecting occupational fraud combined with tip off hotlines. Internal controls alone are insufficient to fully prevent occupational fraud.

The not-for-profit (NFP) sector is quite significant to the economy and recent reported cases have raised questions about the extent of fraud in this sector. There are over 700,000 NFPs across Australia and New Zealand, with a combined income of $76 billion, holding approximately $138 billion in assets and contributing approximately 4.1% to GDP. The sector covers a diverse range of organisations in areas such as: culture and recreation, education and research, health, social services, environment, development and housing, law and politics, philanthropy, religion and business and professional associations.

There is concern about the damaging effects fraud can have on NFPs. The community already has questions about what portion of public and donated funds actually benefit the intended recipients. Reports of fraud can affect the community’s willingness to donate funds, but also reduce NFPs’ ability to obtain funding and grants from various agencies.

The main lessons for the NFP sector are for the Board to practice strong governance and risk management, establish a fraud control policy, implement and promote a strong ethical culture through a code of conduct, establish a whistle-blower policy and establish and monitor internal controls.

The survey was derived from the responses to a questionnaire sent in August 2008 to 2,018 of Australia’s and New Zealand’s largest organisations across the public and private sectors. The questionnaire sought information about fraud incidents within the respondents’ business operations during the period February 2006 to January 2008.1 Usable responses were received from 420 organisations, representing just over 20 percent of the surveys distributed.

The total value of fraud reported was $301.1 million with an average value for each organisation of $1.5 million. Twenty-six respondents reported single frauds with a value of greater than $200 000 each and there were seven organisations where the value of fraud exceeded $3 million.

The most significant initiative taken to reduce the risk of fraud was reviewing and/or improving internal controls (99 percent) and developing a code of conduct/ethics (92 percent). Overall, there was an increase in fraud risk management strategies in place compared to the 2006 survey.

The most significant increases were in performing data analytics (76 percent compared to 19 percent in 2006), developing a fraud control strategy (78 percent compared to 49 percent in 2006), conducting fraud risk assessments (82 percent compared to 50 percent in 2006) and conducting fraud awareness training (64 percent compared to 38 percent in 2006). These results indicate organisations are increasingly following leading practice in fraud risk management.

This study is based on data compiled from 959 cases of occupational fraud that were investigated between January 2006 and February 2008.

Despite increased focus on anti-fraud controls in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley and mandated consideration of fraud in financial statement audits due to SAS 99, our data shows that occupational frauds are much more likely to be detected by a tip than by audits, controls or any other means. Forty-six percent of the cases in this Report were detected by tips from employees, customers, vendors, and other sources. Tips were also the most common means of detection in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

This study was based on 1,134 cases of investigated cases of occupational fraud in USA between the period of January 2004 to January 2006.

The median loss suffered by organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $190,000 per scheme. This was higher than the median loss in even the largest organizations. The most common occupationalfrauds in small businesses involve employees fraudulently writing company checks, skimming revenues, and processing fraudulent invoices.

Our data supports the use of confidential hotlines and other reporting mechanisms as a fraud detection tool. Occupational frauds are more likely to be detected by a tip than by other means such as internal audits, external audits or internal controls. The importance of encouraging tips is evident in cases involving losses of $1 million or more. Forty-four percent of the million-dollar frauds in this study were detected by tips. This is more than twice the rate of detection by internal audits and three times the rate of detection by external audits.

The survey was derived from the responses to a questionnaire sent in February 2006 to 2,146 of Australia´s and New Zealand´s largest organisations across the public and private sectors. The questionnaire contained 48 questions. It sought information about fraud incidents within the respondents´ business operations during the period April 2004 to January 2006.1 Usable responses were received from 465 organisations, representing just over 21 percent of the surveys distributed.

Total value of fraud reported was $154.9 million with an average value for each organisation of $714,000.

Organisations in Australia and New Zealand lost in excess of $456 million to fraud during the period April 2002 to March 2004. A total of 27,657 incidents of fraud were reported by 221 organisations.

This study covers 508 cases of occupational fraud totaling over $761 million in losses. All information was provided by the Certified Fraud Examiners(CFEs) who investigated these cases.

Occupational frauds in our study were much more likely to be detected by a tip than through other means such as internal audits, external audits, and internal controls. Among frauds committed by owners and executives, which tend to be the most costly,over half of all cases were identified by a tip. Confidential reporting mechanisms reduce fraud losses significantly. The median loss among organizations that had anonymous reporting mechanisms was $56,500. In organizations that did not have established reporting procedures, the median loss was more than twice as high. While Sarbanes-Oxley only requires publicly traded companies to establish confidential reporting mechanisms for employees, our data strongly suggests that these programs should also embrace third-party sources such as customers and vendors. Among cases that were detected by a tip, 60% of the tips came from employees, 20% of the tips came from customers, 16% came from vendors, and 13% came from anonymous sources.