Corporate Fraud Mostly Detected by Luck

Despite tough regulations aimed at improving corporate governance, financial fraud is still on the rise around the world, and most is still detected by chance, a study from auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) showed on Tuesday. Globally, the number of companies that reported financial fraud increased 22 percent in the last two years, according to the PWC study, which conducted 3,634 interviews with corporate officers in 34 countries...For the roughly one-third which said they could quantify the cost of the fraud, the total losses exceeded $2 billion, or an average of $1.7 million per company...The survey showed that the most common methods of finding out about financial fraud were still accidental, like calls to hotlines or tips from whistle-blowers." Full story from NYTimes.com. . . [Mark Godsey]