The newly released 2007 Global Economic Crime Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows UK businesses have failed to learn anything over the past two years since a damning OECD report exposed a raft of potential loopholes for bribery and corruption in the UK.

The PwC report found corruption and bribery was the fastest-growing form of UK fraud over the past two years, doubling the average cost to UK businesses affected by fraud from £0.8m in 2005, to £1.75m in 2007. Not only was fraud more costly, but the UK has some of the highest incident rates in the world. UK businesses, suffering fraud were typically affected 15 times in the 24-month period – twice the global average and three times more than the average in Western Europe.

Despite this, UK plc appears to be in denial about the scale of the economic crime – only 17% of companies surveyed believed they would become a victim, when half, at 48%, had been affected. This denial is partly the reason why few fraud cases end up in court and on public record.

The trend towards a more globalised market is a factor in the increased threat of fraud. Almost half, at 49%, of UK fraud cases involved an overseas party. The possible impact of economic crime is considered a significant factor in about half of investment decisions and 90% of UK respondents cited corruption as their major concern when doing business with E7 countries.

Further reading:
Bribery loopholes blight UK accounting
Criminal finance 'can be beaten by accountants'