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Motives behind
internal fraud in the
British financial sector
NEW RESEARCH on internal fraud in the British financial sector by Dr
Matthew Hollow of the Tipping Points project explores the motivations
behind acts of financial fraud committed by company employees. In
order to make effective fraud risk assessments the motivations that lead
employees to commit acts of fraud must be identified. While the study
is not expected to be a comprehensive overview of fraud in the British
financial sector, it does highlight important findings on the motivations
to commit fraud by different levels of employees who work for financial
companies, including banks. In the 64 case studies of financial fraud
examined by Hollow using historical records, the main motive for
committing fraud was for personal financial reasons, but this was not
the case for senior-level employees who more often were motivated by
external pressures such as helping a friend or family member, or even
helping the company itself. According to the study, senior-level offences
tended to inflate the profits of their respective banks where junior-level
employees would extract usually small amounts of money. For juniorlevel employees personal financial problems such as gambling debts
were almost always the main reasons for committing fraud. While they
are more unusual, the study shows that non-financial incentives for
committing fraud do exist and tend to be from higher-level employees.
The motivations for carrying out fraud in the financial industry were
found to be similar to other industries.
KEY FINDING: Personal pressures are most likely to lead employees
to commit financial fraud, but external work-related pressures also
influence them, especially senior management. Risks of fraud can
be reduced by paying attention to motives and what takes place
within wider organisational cultures.
Hollow, M. (2014) Money, Morals and Motives: An Exploratory Study
into Why Bank Managers and Employees Commit Fraud at Work.
Journal of Financial Crime, 21 (2).
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Manufacturing
management celebrity
IN THE BUSINESS WORLD so-called ‘management
gurus’ become celebrities by mastering their
communication skills, especially the ways in which
they present their ideas to an audience. Management
ideas need to be ‘sticky’ in order for them to gain
traction with audiences. The management guru
must be a master salesman in order to capture
their audience’s attention and implant their ideas.
Research from the Tipping Points project led by
Professor Tim Clark, Dr Pojanath Bhatanacharoen
and Professor David Greatbatch, finds that whether
or not management gurus become popular depends
on how they present to and persuade their audience
during live presentations. According to researchers,
management gurus must excel in the presentation of
their books and delivery of their lectures in order for
them to be successful overall. In the case of lectures,
this is accomplished through rhetorical techniques,
humour and storytelling, allowing the guru to ‘build
a sense of cohesion and intimacy’, although the
audience may not be affiliated with the core ideas and
values of the guru. These communication techniques
m