42. Budgetary constraints mean that my team has to achieve higher targets with fewer resources.

Public Sector Fraud Awareness Survey - Findings: My environment.

Observation:

Pie chart for the answers of question 42: Budgetary constraints mean that my team has to achieve higher targets with fewer resources.

66.4% of respondents indicate that they have to “achieve more with less”.

This was felt more by senior (71%) and line managers (74%) than other roles and felt highest in Government Departments (81%) and District Health Boards (87%).

Organisations that answered “Yes” to this question reported greater occurrences of fraud (24% compared with 20%).

What some respondents have said:

“Tightening of funding for external organisations means that there is greater risk of misreporting of performance by them. The problem is our ability to gather sufficient evidence to determine that it was done with deliberate intent.”

“Money is tighter and organisations do look at structure costs.”

PwC comment:
The 2009 PwC survey identified that, for the public sector, the second most commonly perceived driver of fraud was people feeling under increasing pressure to achieve more difficult performance targets, and with fewer resources. This survey’s respondents confirm that there are pressures to achieve more with fewer resources. Managers need to be alert to the risk that such pressures could provide an incentive and opportunity to commit fraud.

“The nature of tightened circumstances and the change taking place provides opportunities for individuals to abuse trust and commit fraud.”

“While our organisation has not been under significant financial pressure, inevitably some people’s home situation may have become tighter in tighter times, which increases the likelihood of someone taking up an opportunity they may have previously felt not worth the risk.”

“Resource constraints are always there - I do not think they change the culture of the Office if people think they are still being treated fairly .”

  Yes No Don’t know Total Count
Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director/Principal 254 67% 119 31% 7 2% 380
Member of the senior executive/leadership team or equivalent 346 71% 137 28% 4 1% 487
Line manager (if not one of the above) 163 74% 48 22% 8 4% 219
Administration/Support Services 96 48% 76 38% 27 14% 199
Operational staff (e.g. Teacher, Analyst, Advisor, Technician, Officer, Engineer, Accountant) 84 62% 43 32% 8 6% 135
Total  943 66% 423 30% 54 4% 1,420
  Yes No Don’t know Total
Central Government              
Autonomous Crown Entities 35 65% 19 35% 0 0% 54
Central Government - Other 23 51% 20 44% 2 4% 45
Crown Agents or Companies  70 80% 16 18% 1 1% 87
Crown Research Institutes 25 68% 10 27% 2 5% 37
District Health Boards 61 87% 6 9% 3 4% 70
Government Departments 118 81% 24 17% 3 2% 145
Independent Crown Entities 23 64% 11 31% 2 6% 36
Māori Trust Boards 6 55% 5 45% 0 0% 11
Rural Education Activities Programmes 7 64% 3 27% 1 9% 11
State-Owned Enterprises 28 60% 18 38% 1 2% 47
Tertiary Education Institutions 69 77% 18 20% 3 3% 90
Sub-Total  465 73% 150 24% 18 3% 633
  Yes No Don’t know Total
Local Government              
Airports 14 78% 3 17% 1 6% 18
Council Controlled Organisations or Council Controlled Trading Organisations 42 56% 30 40% 3 4% 75
Energy Companies 11 39% 16 57% 1 4% 28
Fish and Game Councils 5 63% 3 38% 0 0% 8
Licensing and Community Trusts 3 33% 6 67% 0 0% 9
Local Authorities 115 68% 48 29% 5 3% 168
Local Government - Other  3 27% 8 73% 0 0% 11
Port Companies 1 50% 1 50% 0 0% 2
Sub-Total 194 61% 115 36% 10 3% 319
               
Schools 284 61% 158 34% 26 6% 468
Total  943 66% 423 30% 54 4% 1,420
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