Procedural instructions or guidance

Summary

Develop clear instructions and guidance for activities and processes, such as:

• instructions for collecting the right information to verify eligibility or entitlements
• procedures to help staff apply consistent and correct processes
• guidance to help staff make correct and ethical decisions.

Why this countermeasure matters

A lack of clear guidance and procedural instructions can lead to:

• high levels of non-compliance or errors due to inconsistent and unclear processes, rules and decision-making
• common use of shortcuts and workarounds
• a lack of transparency over actions and decisions
• poor management of fraud and corruption risks
• fraudsters taking advantage inconsistent practices and processes to commit fraud and avoid exposure or prosecution
• fraud or corrupt activity going unnoticed or unchallenged
• unknown and unaddressed systemic fraud or corruption.

How you might apply this countermeasure

Some ways to implement this countermeasure include creating:

• clear instructions for clients and third parties to follow
• clear program procedures and processing instructions for staff
• clear procedures for internal functions such as credit card acquittals
• clear guidance for managers who oversee processes and decisions.

How to check if your countermeasures are effective

Here are some ways to measure the effectiveness of this type of countermeasure:

• confirm that procedural instructions and guidance material exists.
• confirm that staff can easily find and reference procedural instructions and guidance material.
• confirm that staff can easily understand and apply procedural instructions and guidance material.
• confirm that staff use procedural instructions and guidance material.
• check that procedural instructions and guidance material is reviewed regularly and updated as required.
• review statistics on the number of page visits to procedural instructions and guidance material to confirm staff are using it.