The United States publicly traded companies in a study by the US-based association of counter-fraud managers ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners) were reported to have lost a median 1.06 per cent of annual revenue to known frauds in 2024.
When positioned against the annual revenues of these companies, known fraud losses can amount to billions of dollars. These known fraud losses, provided by employees and board/audit committee members, remained consistent year over year, the study suggested. When asked to rank ten factors they believe contribute to fraud at US public companies, employees rated the regulatory environment as the most significant contributing factor. External auditors cited economic conditions as the most significant contributing factor of fraud.
Some two-thirds of participants said they believe that the overall level of fraud has increased over the past two years, and more than 70% rated the current level of fraud as medium or high. Looking to the future, two-thirds of participants believe that the overall level of fraud will increase over the next two years.
ACFE President John Gill, J.D., CFE said: “This report shows that fraud is not a victimless crime, even at larger corporations where people may think they can bear the brunt of large financial impacts. The losses these companies face are significant, both financially and in many other ways. Fraud can impact a public company’s stock price, reputation, ability to hire and much more. Our goal in sharing these findings is for anti-fraud professionals, company management, financial reporting stakeholders and the general public to better understand the risk that fraud poses to US public companies.”
UK Chapter
ACFE UK’s Annual Conference runs on September 22, at One America Square, London; auditors KPMG are platinum sponsors; speakers include Daniel Sibthorpe, of the accountancy firm Crowe, featured in the August edition of Professional Security Magazine, Ros Prince and Priya Grigoriadis, of law firm Stephenson Harwood, on asset recovery, Simon Miller of the counter-fraud trade association CIFAS and Rupert Walter and Benjamin Cowley of KPMG, on forensic analytics; visit http://acfeuk.co.uk/http-acfeuk-co-uk-events/.
ACFE 2025
Some anti-fraud professionals attended Nashville’s Music City Center and online to hear more than 100 speakers at the 36th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. The 37th conference will be in Boston, Massachusetts, and virtually, July 12 to 17, 2026. Visit FraudConference.com.
