SFO puts accountants on notice
Serious Fraud Office says, 'Call us-because you don’t want us calling you', urging advisers to lift the lid on corporate wrongdoing
The Serious Fraud Office has laid down the gauntlet to the accountancy
profession to avoid the unwanted situation of the department asking questions
about why frauds were not reported earlier.
Its ‘Call Us – because you don’t want us calling you’ campaign was unveiled
today.
This is the first time the SFO has used paid-for advertising to get its
message across. The SFO has made the move as demands for action by the public
has stepped up in the wake of the credit crunch and the major frauds that have
been uncovered.
In a statement, the SFO said: ‘Those who discover fraud are better off
letting the SFO know about it than waiting for a knock on their door or a
conversation at the police station…. the organisation believes that
intermediaries – such as lawyers and accountants may well know more and is
urging them to act.’
The Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Richard Alderman added: ‘Our
campaign to
uncover more fraud continues and running advertisements aimed at those who can
help us is part of that. Companies can be innocent victims and if that is the
case we appeal to the companies themselves and their advisers to come to us and
help us help them investigate what happened and resolve it.’