 World’s first online fraud resilience self-assessment tool to launch as National Fraud Authority urges local government to crack down on fraudsters
30 November 2011: PKF Accountants & business advisers and University of Portsmouth, in partnership with the National Fraud Authority and the National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN), will tomorrow launch an online ‘Fraud Resilience Self-Assessment Tool’ for local authorities.
The website will go live on the day that the National Fraud Authority launches ‘Fighting Fraud Locally’, which aims to improve local government response to fraud and corruption, enable local authorities to become better protected against fraud and help them strengthen their ability to detect and punish fraudsters.
The National Fraud Authority recommends that every local authority completes the self-assessment as part of the ‘Fighting Fraud Locally’ initiative.
The ‘Fraud Resilience Self-Assessment Tool’, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, allows local authorities to assess how well they are protected against fraud. Users are asked to answer 29 questions, based on professional standards for counter fraud work, in order to determine how resilient their organisation is to fraud.
The site evaluates the answers given and rates each organisation out of a maximum 50 points. This score can then be ranked against data held by PKF and University of Portsmouth concerning 430 other organisations.
Jim Gee - Director of Counter Fraud Services at PKF (UK) LLP and Chair of the Centre of Counter Fraud Studies at University of Portsmouth - said: “The National Fraud Authority estimates that public sector losses amount to £21.2 billion, of which 10% - £2.1 billion – is fraud against local government. In this time of austerity, it is money that local authorities can ill afford to lose. The National Fraud Authority’s ‘Fighting Fraud Locally’ initiative is an important step forward in this regard and will help local authorities to target high risk areas such as council tax, single person discount fraud and exemption housing fraud; housing tenancy fraud and fraud in personal budgets."
“The good news is that fraud losses in the local government sector can be reduced. Research shows that fraud can be cut by up to 40% within 12 months. Local authorities and public sector organisations need to be proactive in their approach to tackling fraud - responding and reacting to individual incidents is not enough. To successfully minimise fraud, organisations need to take steps such as developing a strong anti-fraud culture, creating a meaningful deterrent effect and revising processes to remove weaknesses that provide opportunity for fraud."
Dr Mark Button - a Reader at University of Portsmouth and Director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies - said: “In almost every other area, local authorities assess their costs and introduce pre-emptive measures to improve efficiency. Fraud costs, by contrast, only rarely have the same focus - the common position has been that organisations have either denied that they are affected by fraud or plan only to react after the incidents have taken place. As a result, there is almost always considerable scope to reduce fraud."
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For further information, please contact: Andy Konieczko, 020 7065 0537, andrew.konieczko@uk.pkf.com
Notes to Editors:
1. PKF (UK) LLP is a leading firm of accountants and business advisers with more than 1,500 partners and staff operating in 23 offices in the UK mainland firm, incorporating a wholly-owned financial planning company and associated offshore practices. The firm specialises in advising growing and entrepreneurial/owner-managed businesses, AIM and fully listed companies, and also has extensive experience in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Principal services include assurance and advisory; taxation; consultancy; corporate recovery and insolvency; corporate finance and forensic. The firm has particular expertise in advising sectors such as hotels and leisure; mining and resource; public sector; real estate and construction; professional practices; not-for-profit; and medical. The firm’s web site is www.pkf.co.uk
2. PKF (UK) LLP also offers financial services through its FSA authorised company, PKF Financial Planning Limited. PKF (Isle of Man) LLC is a limited liability company registered in the Isle of Man. PKF (Channel Islands) Limited is incorporated in Guernsey.
3. PKF (UK) LLP is a member firm of the PKF International Limited (PKFI) network of legally independent member firms. The PKFI member firms have around 2,200 partners and more than 21,000 staff in around 125 countries.
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