The majority of financial fraud at Canadian companies is carried out by lower level employees, though when it does involve owners or managers it’s much more costly, a report released Thursday found.
About 46% of 99 fraud cases studied in Canada last year were carried out by employees, while 36% were carried out by managers and 18% by owners, or executives, the survey from the Austin-based Certified Fraud Examiners found.
The average cost to business was $127,000, though that figure soared to $330,500 when the crime was carried out by executives, it said.
Most fraudsters were in a company’s accounting department, with the most common types of crime being corruption, billing and expense reinbursement.
Perpetrators were mostly caught through anonymous tips, with 46% detected that way, it said. About 15% were found out through a management review, with 12.4% from an internal audit.
The ACE’s biannual report studied 1,843 fraud cases in 106 countries.
