Fraud blame rests with top management, says ex-EU accountant

Senior management must be held fully accountable when a fraud or other accounting irregularity occurs in their company, according to Ms Marta Andreasen, the accountant who was suspended as chief accounting officer of the European Commission for refusing to sign off the institution's accounts.

Ms Andreasen, who was in Ireland to address the annual conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors, said responsibility for fraud should lie squarely with top management rather than being blamed only on people at lower levels.

"Upper management has to put in place a system that prevents fraud from taking place," she said. "Ignorance doesn't justify you committing any crime."

Ms Andreasen was suspended from the European Commission two years ago when she found herself unable to certify the body's books because she believed they were open to fraud.

She has since been living in what she describes as "limbo", as the Commission decides how to proceed with her case and she herself brings her former employers to the European Court of Justice.

Just months after her suspension took place, it emerged that the EU's statistical agency, Eurostat, had lost track of a large portion of its funds in a substantial fraud.

Ms Andreasen believes it crucial not only for a system to be able to detect fraud, but also for it to allow the fraud to be proven.

"This was the case in Eurostat - there was no traceability," she said.

Ms Andreasen advises that corporates should be legally obliged to apply a clear "separation of powers", whereby managers responsible for making payments on deals be distinct from those who negotiate the contracts.

She believes rules should also be established that would allow a financial director to safely report a manager who is asking him to bend the rules without being "crucified". There is a perception in the corporate world, according to Ms Andreasen, that it does not pay to have professional ethics.

"Either you follow your professional integrity or you go along with the tide.

"If you're an accountant, you know that going with the tide might mean breaking your professional ethics."

She worries that ethics have been "relaxed" in the past few years with the emergence of new industries such as the technology sector.

"I don't think everything has come out yet," she said, predicting that further accounting scandals would emerge over time because many of those engaging in "irregular practices" have not been able to cover their tracks sufficiently.

Pointing to the Parmalat accounting scandal in Italy, Ms Andreasen said it was positive that both the firm's chief financial officer and chief executive were being prosecuted over the matter.

"People cannot say they didn't know about the issue," she said of the top managers.