News release
Nicosia, 16 December 2020
EY Cyprus supports and participates in the 3rd Cyprus Anti-Fraud Conference
EY Cyprus has, once again, sponsored and participated in the 3rd Cyprus Anti-Fraud Conference, which was organised by IMH and the Cyprus Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). The event was held online on Tuesday 15th December.
The conference featured presentations by international and local high calibre speakers who addressed the latest challenges facing organisations and the anti-fraud community, giving the opportunity to participants to learn how best to protect their business from fraud. Participants at the event included professionals from law firms and legal consultants, banks and financial services providers, consulting, accounting, audit and tax firms, insurance and re-insurance firms, law enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities. Topics covered included psychology of Fraudsters, technology and fraud, financial fraud, whistleblowing, asset misappropriation, healthcare fraud and corporate governance and fraud.
Representing EY in this event, Dr. Aristodemos Yiannakas, Director, Forensic & Integrity Services, EY Cyprus, shared his insights on the subject in a presentation titled: “Is this the Moment of Truth for Corporate Integrity?”
The presentation focused on the survey findings of EY’s 2020 Global Integrity Report. The Report, which follows EY’s previous Global Fraud Survey series, provides insights on the ethical challenges facing organisations, both in the lead-up to and at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Based on the report’s conclusions, Dr. Yiannakas explained that the pandemic crisis has accelerated the ethical challenges and argued that, in order to navigate these, organisations need to prioritise on threecritical actions concerning integrity: these are, embedding corporate integrity to protect against unethical conduct, fostering partnerships with third parties based on integrity, and safeguarding data while ethically leveraging its value.
During his presentation, Aristodemos Yiannakas noted: “EY’s research shows that respondents see the value of acting with integrity. However, it also reveals a concerning disparity as to perceptions of ethical behaviour at different levels of seniority within organisations. Throughout the world, organisations are coming under increased scrutiny from society. The decisions being taken by governments and companies during the pandemic crisis will be judged during the coming months and years by shareholders, governments, enforcement agencies, consumers and the public at large. Acting with integrity today is more important than ever.”
