#AUDITDATALEADERS

If you are talking about bribery, there’s no point in doing data analytics. Bribery happens under the table.

Right?

Ok, to some extent, it is a challenge. But that bribe money has to come from somewhere. I mean, you want to put your supermarket on the main high-street in Shanghai, you are going to have to give someone a sizeable sum to get on top of the waiting list.

If you want to be the construction company that builds the new TGV railway across Kazakstan, you are going to have to do some lavish visits.

So are you going to pay for these payments or gifts yourself? Unless your company is your life, probably not.

There are many ways to get money out of the company for bribes. Avon China used Travel and gifts. Bruker used payments for fictitious consulting services, GSK used travel agencies to print fake invoices, Diebold gave out cash, Lilly sales agents offered entertainment, Nordam wired money to employees from overseas and used fictitious sales rep companies, Morgan Stanley gave shares in real-estate and provided huge discounts on real-estate, Biomet gave employees huge commissions and travel and expense allowances, as did Tyco, IBM created “slush funds” at travel agencies, Maxwell used Chinese agents and paid them consulting fees.

As you can see, the money has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere will be in the books, even if the final gift is delivered under the table in an envelope.