AS 8001-2003

The Government have highlighted that Australian entities are ill equipped to detect and prevent fraud against their business with many having made no progress in developing or implementing any form of fraud Australian economy (Australian Standards 8001-2003, 2003), as such that AS 8001-2003 was developed and updated in 2008, to AS 8001-2008.

Entity’s approach to managing the risk of fraud should be underpinned by an organisation-wide policy developed with internal and external consultation with appropriate benchmarking against established best practice prevention and detection programs and standards (Australian Standards 8001-2008, 2008).

The Standard provides an approach to controlling fraud and corruption through a process of:

a)   Establishing the entity’s fraud and corruption control objective and values;

b)   Setting the entity’s anti-fraud and anti-corruption policies;

c)   Developing, implementing, promulgating and maintaining an holistic integrity framework;

d)   Fraud and corruption control planning;

e)   Risk management including all aspects of identification, analysis, evaluation treatment, implementation, communication, monitoring and reporting;

f)    Implementation of treatment strategies for fraud and corruption risks with particular focus on intolerable risk;

g)   Ongoing monitoring and improvement;

h)   Awareness training;

i)    Establishing clear accountability structures in terms of response and escalation of the investigation;

j)    Establishing clear reporting policies and procedures;

k)   Setting guidelines for the recovery of the proceeds of fraud or corruption; and

l)    Implementing other relevant strategies.

In addition to the processes outlined above, the major points outlined in the Standards are: 

·      Increased consideration of IS as an enabler of fraud and corruption and for its detection

·      Expanded guidance on the role of the internal audit function in controlling this risk

·      Increased emphasis on management’s example such as acting ethically and presenting a good example for their employees

·      Upgraded employment screening guidelines by encouraging employee background checks to catch out those who have committed fraud

·      New customer and supplier vetting guidelines to ensure that customers and suppliers are aware of the company’s anti-fraud commitment and to ensure their compliance.

Finally an application of AS 8001-2008 has been inforced by Gain Corp (2008) in their Corporate Governance Policy. Below is a clip from their policy which highlights the preventative measures thay have enforced to mitigate fraud.

Figure 2 - Grain Corp Fraud and Corruption Procedure (2008)

Further Reading:

Australian Standards 8001-2003. (2003). Fraud and corruption control. Retrieved from: http://www.cufa.com.au/downloads/library/csr/Australian_Standard.pdf

Australian Standards 8001-2008. (2008).Fraud and corruption control. Retrieved from: http://fraud.govspace.gov.au/files/2010/12/Australian-Standard-8001-2008.pdf

Grain Corp (2008). Fraud & corruption control: corporate governance procedure. Retrieved from: QUT Blackboard.

(Source: AYB115 Lecture 11 – Identifying and Preventing Fraudsters Slides)