Start Date
13-2-2012 5:00 PM
End Date
13-2-2012 6:00 PM
Description
Abstract: Bribery and corruption are not only corrosive to the free market, but are major obstacles to economic development and the alleviation of global poverty. As a global citizen and member state of both the United Nations and the OECD, Australia has a significant responsibility to help thwart such evils. The recent emergence of foreign bribery on the Australian psyche is unequivocally the result of Australia’s first ever charges for the offence being issued on 1 July 2011. No doubt it also has a little something to do with the fact that two of those charged were subsidiary companies of one of Australia’s most respectable institutions, the Reserve Bank; and that journalists from Melbourne’s The Age newspaper have published such allegations for over a year. Despite becoming a signatory to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Public Officials in 1997, the charges are the first genuine public foray Australia has made towards demonstrating its true commitment to the convention. Global reporting body Transparency International, also rates Australia’s bribery enforcement efforts to date as extremely poor. It will take not only a successful prosecution, but a raft of improvements to Australia’s enforcement strategy to make any marked difference to Australia’s current scorecard on foreign bribery.
Emerging Issues for the Forensic Accountant: Foreign Bribery
Abstract: Bribery and corruption are not only corrosive to the free market, but are major obstacles to economic development and the alleviation of global poverty. As a global citizen and member state of both the United Nations and the OECD, Australia has a significant responsibility to help thwart such evils. The recent emergence of foreign bribery on the Australian psyche is unequivocally the result of Australia’s first ever charges for the offence being issued on 1 July 2011. No doubt it also has a little something to do with the fact that two of those charged were subsidiary companies of one of Australia’s most respectable institutions, the Reserve Bank; and that journalists from Melbourne’s The Age newspaper have published such allegations for over a year. Despite becoming a signatory to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Public Officials in 1997, the charges are the first genuine public foray Australia has made towards demonstrating its true commitment to the convention. Global reporting body Transparency International, also rates Australia’s bribery enforcement efforts to date as extremely poor. It will take not only a successful prosecution, but a raft of improvements to Australia’s enforcement strategy to make any marked difference to Australia’s current scorecard on foreign bribery.