Page 560 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Case Results

Regarding cases that management did not to refer to law enforcement, we asked our respondents to provide the rea-
son(s) why. As in the previous two reports, the top three reasons for declining to refer were fear of bad publicity (39%),
internal discipline considered sufficient (35.5%), and the parties reached a private settlement (23.3%).

Figure 102: Reason(s) Case Not Referred to Law Enforcement

39.0%
Fear of Bad Publicity 34.7%
REASON GIVEN FOR NOT PROSECUTING
38.3%
35.5%
Internal Discipline Su cient 30.5%
33.3%
23.3%
Private Settlement 21.3%
20.5%
18.8%
Too Costly 18.9%
14.5%
15.6%
Other 13.1%
11.7%
11.9%
Lack of Evidence 11.0%
8.1%
4.2%
Civil Suit 4.6% 2016
3.3%
2014
1.8%
Perpetrator Disappeared 0.6% 2012
0.7%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
PERCENT OF CASES

Civil Suits
We also asked respondents to report on cases that resulted in a civil lawsuit. Figure 103 shows that less than one-fourth
of occupational fraud cases resulted in a civil suit. This percentage has been fairly stable over the past three reports.

Figure 103: Cases Resulting in Civil Suit

23.1%
CIVIL SUIT FILED 2016 22.2% 76.9%

77.8%
2014
Civil Suit
76.5%
23.5%
2012
No Civil Suit
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
PERCENT OF CASES

76 REPORT TO THE NATIONS ON OCCUPATIONAL FRAUD AND ABUSE