New international guide to pressure testing

Global research shows that gaps or weaknesses in controls lead to more fraud than any other factor. Pressure testing is a proven way to find gaps or weaknesses in control environments that individuals or criminal groups could exploit. It involves applying creative and critical thinking and examining processes and systems from the perspective of a fraudster to identify how controls work, remove blind spots and challenge assumptions about how fraud is managed by public bodies.

In August 2021, we hosted an International Public Sector Fraud Forum (IPSFF) technical deep dive on pressure testing. The deep dive included presentations from the Centre, Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment and the US Government Accountability Office. The IPSFF brings together members from the 5 Eyes nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) to improve the prevention, detection and measurement of public sector fraud by sharing leading practice in counter fraud.

Off the back of this deep dive event, we have developed an IPSFF Guide to Pressure Testing. This guide is designed to help public bodies across the world to understand how pressure testing benefits counter fraud team’s efforts to manage fraud and integrity risks. It pulls together leading pressure testing practice, frameworks and case studies (developed by IPSFF member countries) to outline processes and methods that can be used by any public body to test the effectiveness of fraud controls.

We wish to acknowledge our partners in the UK Cabinet Office and US Government Accountability Office for their collaboration. The guide also includes case study contributions from the:

• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (United States of America)
• Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (Australia)
• Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (Australia)
• Government Accountability Office (United States of America)
• Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (Australia)
• Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (Australia).

Contact us to request a copy.

Author: Chris McDermott