Only 45% of charities have set counter-fraud strategy, reveals survey

Less than half of charities that took part in a new survey have a written counter-fraud and corruption strategy in place.

A report by accountancy firm PKF-Littlejohn looked at the charity sector and how it is set up to deal with issues surrounding fraud.

Some improvement

The Resilience to Fraud of the Charity Sector in England and Wales 2015 says that charities need to do more to protect themselves.

PKF-Littlejohn claims their report is the “most extensive and comprehensive report yet undertaken into the resilience of charities in England and Wales to fraud”, as it includes analysis of data that 392 charities provided.

The report follows a similar one that was published in 2010, which provides the comparison figures.

Myth

The study found that of those charities who took part in the survey, 44.4% had a written counter-fraud strategy, down from 45.9% in the 2010 report.

Head of counter-fraud at Oxfam GB, Oliver May, wrote the report's forward and said it is a myth that fraud isn't a problem for charities.

“Fraud is never a ‘victimless’ crime, but when perpetrated against a charity it is, perhaps, particularly malignant. It makes victims not only of donors and beneficiaries, but also the organisation and its staff and volunteers. Consequential losses can be very damaging. The ripples spread wide,” May noted.

One caveat is that the survey was self-selecting, meaning that the results might be skewed by those organisations that took part being naturally inclined to be more interested in fraud prevention than others.