ACFE benchmarking report: 58% cite inadequate anti-fraud staffing and resources

In a new ACFE research study, In-House Fraud Investigation Teams Benchmarking Report, 58% of anti-fraud professionals say their organizations have inadequate levels of anti-fraud staffing and resources. “Without adequate resources or staff, fraud examiners are limited to how much they are able to sufficiently investigate and stop fraud,” said ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA. “Each day that a fraud scheme is able to continue, the victim organization is losing money to a situation that could likely be prevented.”

According to the report, nearly half of anti-fraud professionals said they believe their organizations are more vulnerable to external frauds now than in the past — compared to 38% of respondents who noted the same about occupational fraud.

Other notable findings include:

• 15% of organizations typically don’t recover any of their funds lost to fraud, and another 64% recover less than half of their losses.
• 60% of organizations expect to increase their investments in anti-fraud programs in the next two years.
• 72% of teams frequently or occasionally investigate employee embezzlement, which makes it the most common type of fraud investigated.
• Fraud investigators in the insurance industry have the largest caseload with an average of 17 cases at any given time while those in the mining industry have the smallest average caseload of two cases.
• Organizations in the government and public administration sectors typically have the longest fraud investigations with teams taking an average of 94 days to close a case.

“It is important to benchmark current anti-fraud efforts globally, across industries and within organizations of different sizes in order to get a holistic picture of how organizations are tackling fraud,” said Dorris. “This data allows organizations to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of their anti-fraud initiatives, as well as to identify areas for improvement, expansion or investment.”

The report was based on responses of 886 anti-fraud professionals who work as part of in-house teams that perform fraud investigations for their employing organizations. The respondents represent 100 countries and work across all industries.