Title: Controls and processes to prevent employees from being bribed by third parties

Authors: Marianne M. Rexer; Woojun Lee; Dawn M. Burdsall

Addresses: Wilkes University, 84 W South St, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, USA ' Wilkes University, 84 W South St, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, USA ' Georgian Court University, 900 Lakewood Ave, Lakewood, NJ 08701, USA

Abstract: This study focuses on employee bribery by third parties and summarises the state of third-party anti-bribery processes and the company's confidence to assess third-party bribery and corruption risks. A qualitative research approach was utilised to interview internal auditors and managers and asks open-ended questions to understand the internal controls in place to prevent or detect the bribery of employees, the internal audit process, and the types of frauds witnessed. The findings show all respondents acknowledge the risk of employee fraud and bribery by third parties and utilise internal audits along with preventive and mitigating controls to manage risks. Based on the findings, we identified themes that mirror the assessment of risk that third parties could bribe employees and the development of controls to limit the employee with or without regard to third parties.

Keywords: internal audit; third party; bribery of employees; corruption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2024.140793

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2024 Vol.28 No.2, pp.219 - 237

Received: 03 Nov 2021
Accepted: 25 Jan 2022
Published online: 03 Sep 2024 *

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