Fighting Fraud in the Public Sector

'Fighting Fraud in the Public Sector' is the government and public sector extract from PwC's Global Economic Crime Survey and considers the latest government fraud reports. This extract comes against a background of a relatively robust Australian economy, but continuing global political and economic instability.

Despite the general overall health of the economy, the public sector is under pressure from rapid expenditure programs, increasing complex KPIs and planned and expected job cuts at the state government level. To compile the Global Economic Crime Survey, PwC asked more than 170 senior representatives of government and state-owned enterprises in 35 countries about fraud and fraud risks. The survey scrutinised fraud and associated integrity risks during a period of considerable economic turmoil. It investigated the root causes of fraud and its effects on organisations worldwide.

The key findings are:

• Government and state-owned enterprises on average experienced a higher incidence of fraud than listed private entities
• Staff members perpetrated more than half (57%) of fraud reported by government and state-owned enterprises
• Senior staff are more likely to commit fraud in government and state-owned enterprises than in any other industry
• IT Control are weakening and making us more vulnerable to fraud
• Collateral damage such as damage to reputation, employee morale and relationship with regulators can sometimes do more damage than the loss itself.

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