Partner Article

Firms must prepare for tighter fraud rules

North East companies are facing a significant increase in prosecutions for anti-competitive business behaviour, bribery, corruption and fraud as UK regulators tighten and enforce the rules more stringently in these areas, says PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).

This comes after years of pressure from groups such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations (UN), which have repeatedly highlighted how the UK has lagged behind in this area.

Fran Marwood, director and North East leader of forensic investigations, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said: “The reality is that if you are a company of a reasonable size, with international operations, there is a real risk that your organisation is paying bribes somewhere along the line, whether you know it or not. You may also be breaching competition rules. The two activities often go together.

“The UK’s relatively light touch regulatory environment has cut companies a fair bit of slack in the recent past, but this is changing. Enforcement agencies feel they have a new mandate for prosecution and companies will need to change the way they deal with these issues.”

The construction industry is often seen as a high risk area for bribery and price fixing, alongside other industries that involve large government contracts, but no industry is immune.

Tony Parton, Northern partner in forensic accounting practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said: “Mining, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and defence are often seen as the highest risk industries but many of the cases we were asked to investigate in the last year have come from companies in other sectors, such as consumer products.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .