Four out of five companies worldwide have been affected by fraud in the last three years, according to a report published Sept. 24 by the risk consulting company Kroll. The report, based on a survey of 892 senior executives by the Economist Intelligence Unit, also indicated that one in 10 large companies (with annual revenues of more than $5 billion) loses more than $100 million each year to fraud.

Eighty percent of the executives believe their vulnerability to fraud has increased, citing high staff turnover (32 percent of respondents), complex IT arrangements (31 percent), entry into new markets (28 percent), and increased collaboration between unrelated companies (26 percent) as causes of this exposure.

The report analyzed fraud occurrences by region, and found that companies in the Middle East and Africa experienced corruption and bribery in the greatest proportion (39 percent), while North American companies had the lowest proportion (9 percent).