Fraud is on the rise. The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic means that all elements of the fraud triangle have been heightened. This is going to continue because of the impacts of the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and the cost of living crisis. The fraud regulatory landscape is changing too, and we can expect increased scrutiny and accountability from government, regulators, and the public moving forward. The measures included in the BEIS white paper ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance’ are likely to form part of stronger rules and regulations improving the prevention, detection, and reporting of fraud. Notably, there are increasing regulatory pressures for company directors to take greater responsibility for ensuring there are robust controls in place to prevent and detect fraud. In turn this is likely to mean company directors will require more assurance and comfort from their internal auditors regarding fraud.

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