Accountancy professionals sit at the front line of fraud prevention. They are often the first to spot anomalies, and this can in many cases help protect companies from significant losses or at least mitigate those losses.

This role has never been more important. The current landscape in the UK is one where fraud now reportedly represents over 40% of all recorded crime, and one-in-five businesses have fallen victim to fraud in recent years, according to the results of the Home Office’s most recent Economic Crime Survey.

The cost of fraud to individuals in the UK is estimated at £4.7 billion a year, and the total cost of fraud to the UK economy is thought to exceed £150 billion annually.

In an effort to be seen be acting to address this reality, on 3 May 2023, the government announced its new Fraud Strategy (the strategy). This document builds on and fleshes out the second iteration of the government’s Economic Crime Plan, which was released at the end of March.