Analytics, Corruption, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Shadow economy

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 14:07

EY: Baltics ahead of Eastern Europe, trail Western countries in corruption prevention

BC, Riga, 13.05.2016.Print version
The Baltic States have achieved progress in corruption and fraud prevention lately, but they are still trailing behind developed Western countries, according to the 14th Global Fraud Survey released by EY audit firm, cites LETA.

According to the latest EY survey, 29% of entrepreneurs in the Baltic States admit that bribery and corruption are commonplace in the Baltic States, which is a reduction from a year before when this answer was given by 34% of respondents. This, however, is still worse than in developed countries where 21% of entrepreneurs regard corruption as a widespread practice.

 

In the Baltic States, the figure is similar to that in the UK (28%) and Canada (30%), but it is significantly better than in Slovakia (70%) and Hungary (66%), as well as countries like Italy (56%), Spain (50%), Russia (34%) and the United States (34%). At the same time, the Baltic states' result is substantially worse than that shown by Finland (0%), Denmark (4%), Germany (6%), the Netherlands (6%) and Ireland (8%).



 

Brazil showed the worst result in the EY survey with 90% of entrepreneurs in this country describing bribery and corruption as commonplace. Ukraine followed with 88%, Thailand with 86% and Nigeria with 86%.

 

"In prevention of fraud and corruption, the Baltic states are half-way from the results of the most developed economies. Significant progress has been made in recent years and the Baltic states are now far ahead of a number of significant economies, but we still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the leading European countries where corruption and fraud are virtually ruled out from day-to-day business," said EY partner in the Baltic states Diana Krisjane.

 

The EY representatives also indicated that the Baltic states are showing improvement on specific corruption issues. 7% of entrepreneurs, for instance, say that it is a common practice in their sector to win tenders by giving bribes, which is only slightly more than the 4% of such entrepreneurs in developed countries and better than a year before, when this answer was given by 13% of Baltic entrepreneurs.

 

According to the EY survey, entrepreneurs in the Baltic states highly value precision in financial accounting and integrity, while only 1% believe that manipulating financial data can be justified if that helps the company survive a crisis. This figure in the Baltics is even better than in developed countries where 2% of respondents would be ready to justify such manipulations. Baltic entrepreneurs are also more ethical than their colleagues in the developed countries when it comes to justifying cash payments if they help the company's business. In the Baltics, such payments are justified by 5% of entrepreneurs as compared to 9% in the developed countries.






Search site