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Many
Companies Have Formalized Antifraud Programs and Controls
Few Are Prepared for Regulatory Investigations
FEBRUARY 2007 - A majority
of companies have instituted formal antifraud programs and controls in light
of today’s heightened regulatory environment, according to an online
poll conducted by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP. Approximately
75% of respondents stated that their companies have antifraud programs and
controls designed to deter, detect, and prevent fraud. But only 13% indicated
that their companies have a regulatory response team in place.
The survey’s approximately 500 participants included senior-level
financial executives, such as CFOs and controllers, during a 2006 webcast
titled “What to Do When the Regulators Come Knocking at Your Door.”
The executives primarily represented the energy, financial services, and
manufacturing industries.
A partner in Deloitte
FAS’s forensic and dispute services practice who co-presented the
webcast noted that companies are increasingly recognizing and beginning
to tackle this important issue, but for most companies the challenge becomes
one of execution.
Other key results
to the webcast poll included the following:
Almost 60% of the
respondents indicated that they believe that the number of internal and
external investigations related to financial accounting issues will increase
over the next two years.
- 46% of the respondents
reported that their companies had responded to an SEC or Department
of Justice inquiry.
- Almost 36% of
the respondents indicated that, to the extent their companies had conducted
an internal investigation on financial statement issues, such an investigation
did not result in any findings of accounting irregularities.
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