Declarations
Use declarations to communicate and confirm that a person understands their obligations and the consequences of non-compliance.
This control targets both internal and external fraud risks.
Examples
Examples of this control include:
- requiring applicants to complete a declaration when submitting a claim or request, e.g. “I declare the information provided is true and correct and I acknowledge the consequences for providing false or misleading information”
- requiring employees to sign a declaration or acknowledgement confirming they have read and understood privacy and information access policies
- obtaining consent from employees, funding recipients, contractors or providers for their personal information (including banking information) to be shared to prevent, detect or investigate fraud
- obtaining consent from contractors or providers to give access to premises or records to investigate fraud.
Risks from control gap
Not requiring declarations can lead to:
- applicants providing false information or misleading statements to support a request or claim
- applicants concealing or withholding information that would affect their entitlement.
Assessing effectiveness
Methods to evaluate the effectiveness of this control include:
- confirming declarations exist on relevant forms
- confirming that the consequences of non-compliance are clearly communicated
- confirming the completion of a declaration is mandatory and/or may have legal effect
- reviewing the content and wording to make sure it clearly encourages compliance and deters fraud
- checking where and how records of completed declarations or acknowledgements are kept
- consulting behavioural insights experts about the declarations and acknowledgements
- asking employees about their understanding of the declaration and the consequences for non-compliance.
Complementary controls
Other capability, prevention, detection and response controls that can enhance this control’s effectiveness:
Related fraudster personas
Types of behaviour this control is designed to mitigate:
The deceiver
|
The enabler
|
The fabricator
|
|
Download the complete fraud control catalogue
Explore a range of controls that can be put in place to reduce the risk of fraud happening in your organisation.
More information
- Check out our range of guidance to see where to start your counter fraud journey
- Learn how employees, contractors, vendors or business partners can harm an organisation from within
- Scan your public sector organisation to identify potential areas of fraud risk and exposure
- See how a robust pre-employment screening process is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of employee fraud and corruption in your organisation