MEDIA ALERT
Australian Companies Caught Unprepared for Increasing Levels of Corruption
Dow Jones Survey Finds only 12 percent of Professionals are Confident that Australian Companies
are Compliant with Anti-Corruption Legislation
18 May 2009 – 95 percent of compliance and risk professionals surveyed believe that corruption
is more likely to occur in the current economic environment, particularly as organisations look
to do business with emerging markets in an attempt to cut costs. This is despite only 12 percent
of respondents having full confidence that Australian companies currently comply with
Australia’s Anti-Corruption legislation, according to a recent Dow Jones survey.
77 percent of survey respondents believe there is now a greater focus on Anti-Corruption as a
result of the risks associated with the Global Financial crisis (GFC) such as growing trade
relationships with emerging markets that still have a high level of state-owned companies.
According to Richard Butler, Dow Jones Risk and Compliance Solutions specialist, this focus on
Anti-Corruption has not been converted to companies taking the necessary actions to ensure
they comply with Anti-Corruption legislation.
“As a result of several Federal government initiatives to stimulate the economy, it is likely that
this additional funding will also stimulate corruption. While perhaps not intentional, we’re
seeing a greater incidence of corrupt practices such as corporate gift-giving that can ultimately
influence the decision-making process. This is a very serious issue.”
Almost half (48.5 percent) of the survey respondents indicated that those in senior leadership
positions within Australian companies only have minimal knowledge of Anti-Corruption
legislation, leaving the door open to the risk of judgment errors. 35 percent of survey
respondents believed Board members and senior executives did not supply sufficient resources
to combat or prevent corrupt practices.
“Anti-Corruption enforcement needs to come from the top,” said Mr Butler. “Australian senior
executives need to realise that Anti-Corruption is a business issue and not just a compliance
issue that is relegated to the compliance manager. The reputational and financial cost of non-
compliance is far greater than the alternative.”
Acts such as the Crimes Act 1914 , the Criminal Code Act 1995 and the Proceeds of Crime Act
2002 list a number of corruption offences including bribery of a public official, falsifying a
document and forgery. In addition, Australia has become party to a number of international
conventions to fight corruption including the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery
of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions.
“While trust needs to be inherent within every company, senior executives cannot rely on ethics
alone to stamp out corrupt practices. The backbone of any compliance strategy is sound
technology that can deliver the necessary checks to clarify the grey areas that exist around
corruption and corporate culture.”
The survey, “Australian Anti-Corruption Compliance Perceptions”, conducted by Dow Jones at
the Dow Jones Anti-Corruption Series in Sydney, polled 40 senior business decision makers
including Heads of Compliance and Risk Managers across industries including financial services,
insurance and real estate.
About Dow Jones
Dow Jones & Company (www.dowjones.com) is a subsidiary of News Corporation (NASDAQ:
global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media Group publishes The Wall
Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise
Media Group includes Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones
Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its Local Media Group operates
community-based information franchises. Dow Jones owns 50% of SmartMoney and 33% of
Stoxx Ltd. and provides news content radio stations in the U.S.
For further information, please contact:
Kelly Tullett
n2n communications
(02) 9213 2310
ktullett@n2n.com.au
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