Spending cuts add to rise in public sector fraud, says accountants PwC.

They found that 60% of public sector organisations suffered fraud in the past 12 months, compared with 52% in 2009.

Will Richardson, director in PwC’s forensic accounting team in the North West, said:

“Spending cuts have created ill-will among public employees in some areas and, in others, more opportunities for Government workers to cross the line.

“More opportunities for fraud are created as mid-office functions are stripped away and responsibility for auditing and authorising activity is spread more thinly.”

Internal fraudsters are now reported as more common than external ones, responsible for 53% of detected economic crime, up from 39% in 2009.