Corporate fraud could be causing the country losses of about R150-billion, the audit firm BDO reported in May 2012. It was citing figures from the 2012 Report on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, prepared by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. An analysis of more than 1 300 fraud cases probed worldwide showed that the estimated loss to an organisation as a result of fraud was 5 percent of its revenue each year. Applied to the world’s gross domestic product in 2011, it translated to a potential projected loss of more than $3.5-trillion (about R35-trillion).
In 2010, BDO reported that company fraud in South Africa was “escalating at an alarming rate” and estimated that the “total annual leakage” from fraud, theft and corruption amounted to R100-billion.
