Publications

• Inquiries to Schuchter

The Swiss financial industry values pre-employment screenings because they’re considered to be an effective anti-fraud strategy. But what about other preventive measures like corporate anti-fraud training programs? Does it pay off to invest in this area?

In 2016, Schuchter and Wenger surveyed 18 Swiss companies — only banks and insurers — about their anti-fraud training programs. The findings can be benchmarks for organizations and provide insights into how to enrich programs.

Much of our study’s results are easily transferable to any industry in any country. Some ideas could represent a starting point for making anti-fraud training in your organization more powerful. Findings obtained from an online survey and several face-to-face meetings show there’s still room for improvement. At the same time, our respondents provide fascinating insights that could make corporate training more effective.

• Inquiries to Fraud Magazine or Schuchter

White-collar crime causes considerable damage. An in-depth analysis of the root causes offers potential for combatting fraudulent actions in a targeted manner. Hence a scientific, explanatory approach provides a theoretical basis on which to work. In the course of an empirical study, Schuchter visited fraudsters.

According to the offenders, opportunity is the sole imperative precondition for perpetrating a crime, whereby pressure can also make a significant contribution in tipping the balance. The most effective preventive measures are named as being efficacious controls, competent and mindful managers, qualified supervisory bodies, external and neutral professionals and regulation by the state.

• Inquiries to Springer, Amazon or Schuchter

This article revisits the Fraud Triangle, an explanatory framework for financial fraud, originally developed by the American criminologist Donald Cressey from his interviews with embezzlers. First of all, we describe several developmental cornerstones of the Fraud Triangle. Its recent theoretical and practical application is reconsidered. In accordance with the three elements – motivation, opportunity, rationalization – and on the basis of our empirical study of 13 company fraudsters in Austria and Switzerland, we illustrate some within-company measures, which may contribute to a low fraud risk corporate culture.

Although opportunity is necessary but not a sufficient condition for ‘upperworld’ criminal offences, our respondents regard the perceived pressures they experienced as salient. Rather than rationalizations, there is a ‘fraud-inhibiting inner voice’ before the crime, which normally deters an individual from fraudulent behaviour. This inner voice becomes quieter over time until the fraud occurs; at least in their cases. Our interviewees argue that all Fraud Triangle elements – including the inner voice – are highly influenced by the corporate culture in their companies.

• Inquiries to Springer or Schuchter

Our fraudsters consider that only opportunity is a universal precondition of acts defined by others as fraud, though perceived pressure is salient to most frauds. By contrast, financial incentives are not required to be motivational elements. The frequently cited “rationalisation” is too simplistic: rather, a fraud-inhibiting inner voice before the crime and a guilty conscience after it were present among those interviewed.

• Inquiries to Elsevier or Schuchter

This book chapter revisits two strategies, “Compliance” & “Integrity”, which serve as a basis for the development of anti-fraud measures and conformist behaviour in companies. While the idea of “Compliance” originally arises from avoiding legal sanctions, “Integrity” is rather connected to the concept of intrinsic “Self-Governance”.

Regarding the causes of white-collar crime we illustrate some places where a synergistic effect of combining both strategies can be created. By enabling target-oriented control of anti-fraud measures, a strategy fusion could effective contribute to a business environment that is compliant with the prevailing cultural rules. Thus, it should be possible to made progress against all the elements of the “Fraud Diamond”.

• Inquiries to Stämpfli or Schuchter

Every year, white-collar crime in companies causes extensive material and non-material damage. In this context, the loss of trust is seen as particularly problematic. Even some of the earliest academic publications on the subject of white-collar crime, published in the English-speaking world in the 1940’s, considered the subject of “trust” to be relevant. The results published here handle the most salient points on this keyword from the perspective of the offenders – an area which has not been explored in sufficient depth to date.

Without having been asked explicitly about “trust” during the research interviews, the offenders themselves broached this subject with particular frequency. Overall, “trust” is regarded as extremely important, and “blind trust” as risky.

• Inquiries to Studienverlag or Schuchter

Commentary from the perspective of KPMG AG: the crimes perpetrated by the offenders in this study (manipulated accounts, corruption, embezzlement, misappropriation or fraud) offer the offenders personal (financial) gain, generally at the expense of the company for which they work.

• Inquiries to Schuchter

What conclusions can be drawn on behalf of internal company prevention by profiling white-collar criminals, in order to minimise risk by pre-empting crime?

• Inquiries to ZRFC or Schuchter

White-collar criminals are generally male, well educated (above average), enjoy a high level of social regard, are extremely well integrated in the company – and cause damage which runs into the millions. Fraud expert Alexander Schuchter looks at how to protect oneself against white-collar crime (the interview is only available in German).

• Inquiries to Schuchter