Fraud schemes are increasingly getting more sophisticated, enabled by new and emerging technologies, such as AI, machine learning, data analytics, digital platforms and system vulnerabilities. These schemes are usually facilitated by:
- All levels of internal stakeholders, and /or
- External stakeholders –Customers, Vendors, Business Partners, Consultants, etc., who may use advanced methods, such as Generative AI,to commit fraud, necessitating specialised detection and investigation strategies.
It is therefore imperative to equip the investigation function (and indeed, internal audit function),with adequate tools, methodologies and technologies, to proactively identify patterns of fraud or misconduct, soas to mitigate the risk of financial loss, operational disruption, and / or reputational harm.
To achieve this, organisationsneed to determine the maturity level of their internal investigation functions, in terms of their capacities and capabilities to:
- Proactively identify fraud risks: This includes use of advanced data analytics and fraud monitoring tools to detect emerging patterns offraud.
- Conduct data-enabled and AI-powered internal investigations, as may berequired.
- Benchmark their capabilities with other similar organisations, so as to assess their level of maturity among their peers.
In response to this challenge, KPMG has developed an assessment and a benchmark solution –KPMG Internal Investigation Maturity Assessment (KIIMA), to assist organisations of different sizes to conduct a maturity assessment of their internal investigation functions, putting into consideration the size, sector and jurisdictions they operate in, as well as local requirements and regulations.
