The Value of a Fraud Hotline
Wondering if you need a hotline as part of your ethics and compliance solution? The cost is incredibly reasonable and the return is tremendous. For a 3,000 person organization, it costs less than a Starbucks tall latte per employee per year to provide online and phone hotlines. In return, you can expect faster discovery and fewer fraud losses.
Online and phone options give stakeholders a fast and anonymous way to report fraud, waste, abuse, discrimination, harassment and other ethical issues. An Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) survey found that fraud is discovered in half the time, and losses are reduced by 67% in organizations that deploy hotlines.
The benefits accrue on the earnings side, too. Companies using hotlines create a more accountable and efficient environment that can actually outperform less ethical companies. The 2011 World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies continue to beat the S&P 500. The WME Index earned returns above 40% in 2011 versus just under 10% for the S&P.
According to the 2011 Corporate Governance and Compliance Hotline Benchmarking Report, telephone reporting is still preferred by users; but, internet reporting is increasing. This same report indicated that approximately half of all reports are anonymous. Ethical Advocate’s ethics hotline solutions are designed to address the needs of all of these users, whether they prefer phone or internet, anonymous or not.
Contact us today to talk about starting a hotline for your government agency, nonprofit, private or public enterprise.