Internal auditors are preventing fraud in organisations than external auditors in Sub Saharan African the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), Ghana chapter has said.

Speaking in an interview as part of this year’s International Fraud Awareness Week which started from November 14 and ends on Saturday November 21, 2021, Mr. Isaac Adjin Bonney, the Chairman of the Planning Committee for 2021 International Fraud Awareness Week for the Ghana Chapter explained that the highlights have it that internal auditors are doing well and making progress in terms of saving the continent from fraudulent activities.

It is view of this, he has called on leadership to commit more resources to internal auditors and reconsider the conditions of service for internal auditors and upgrade their structure and compensation same as external officers from the Ghana Audit Service.

Mr Bonney explained that even though internal auditors belong to their respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), there is the need for them to be given good remunerations as a result of their checks in fighting fraud.

He noted that occupational fraud in the Sub-Saharan Africa is detected 48% by tips, 14% by internal auditors and four per cent by external auditors.

According to him, fraud perpetrators have profiles that look like those of honest people such as more religious, better educated, less likely to commit crime, not likely to abuse drugs. 

“Fraudsters exude self-control, kindness and empathy, achievement, motivation and self-esteem. They appear to have traits that are required in making friends, hiring employees, seeking customers or selecting vendors,” Mr Bonney said.

He noted that fraud is on the increase in size, complex in form, challenging as a problem and has a destructive impact on the quality of life.

 He said, however that, within the last few years, the situation has changed. 

According to the 2020 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), which is the 11th edition of the largest global study on occupational fraud, 2,504 real cases of occupational fraud and data collected from 125 countries which explored the costs, schemes, victims and perpetrators of fraud said fraud caused a total loss of more than $3.6 Billion which gave an average loss per case as $1,509,000. 

Again, this year, 2021 the ACFE report posted that projected global fraud loss is $4 trillion. The report added that the amount of damage could be incredibly large, however, the $4 trillion estimate give some insight into how huge the problem may be in the world