The findings, from the latest Dow Jones State of Anti-corruption Compliance Survey, show sharp rise in concern about corruption. More than 300 company executives from more than 40 countries completed the survey. The findings mirror that of the recent Transparency International anti-corruption survey, which showed that three-quarters of companies have anti-corruption policies in place.
There has been fourfold rise in the proportion of companies that claim to have lost business from the unethical behaviour of competitors since 2009, from 10% to 40%. “This is perception-based view, though,” says Lucy Norton, associate director in Control Risks’ corporate investigations department. “When companies go through recession, they feel the pinch of competition.”
Paradoxically, while strict liability provisions in legislation such as the UK Bribery Act and the US FCPA make businesses responsible for the activities of their overseas partners, only 30% of companies say they monitor the integrity of business partners.
Nearly half of the companies in the survey said they were unsatisfied with the rigour of their own due diligence processes in verifying the credibility of financial information in foreign markets. The same proportion blamed underfunding for this shortcoming. There appears to be discrepancy between what companies know to be good practice and what they actually do, despite the advent of tougher legislation, says the report.
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