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British Businesses least likely to Cheat

London, 1 July 2008 – Despite the rise in fraud against UK firms reported on Monday (BDO Stoy Hayward) a recent survey of nearly 20,000 people by GfK suggests that the UK population is less likely to see cheating in business as being a major problem, compared to our European and US counterparts. Furthermore, less than half of the UK population believe that cheating in business is more widespread here than 10 years ago.

In the survey, carried out on behalf of The Wall Street Journal Europe, the UK came right at the bottom of the list (looking at W. Europe and the US) when it came to thinking that cheating was a major issue in business, where taxes were concerned, and in love and relationships.

Italy and Greece hold the worst perception of their home countries, both coming in the top three across all areas for which we asked whether cheating was a major issue.

% saying cheating is a major issue in their country

However, despite that encouraging ranking when compared with our neighbours, when you look at the actual figures, it’s a gloomier picture. For the UK population, cheating in taxes is perceived as the worst, with well over half (61 per cent) agreeing there’s a major problem there, closely followed by cheating in business with 57 per cent, and cheating in ‘sports & games’ and ‘school & university’ both coming in with 55 per cent. Only when it came to cheating in ‘dealings with work colleagues’ and in ‘love & relationships’, did the percentage of UK population agreeing that there was a major issue fall below half, with 44 per cent and 43 per cent respectively.            

Is cheating becoming worse now than ten years ago?

On the question of whether cheating or fraud has become more widespread today than ten years ago, the UK came out pretty consistently in the middle of the ranking, with less than half of us (46 per cent) thinking that cheating in business has become more widespread in the UK in the last ten years.

Greece again came out with the highest percentage of their population thinking that cheating had increased in the last ten years, coming in the top three across all the areas questioned. When it came to cheating in school / university, a huge 70 per cent of Swedes felt that the situation had worsened, well ahead of the next closest, the USA, at 53 per cent. Germany held the best opinion on the trend for cheating in schools, with only 23 per cent thinking the situation had worsened – and they were also the most optimistic about that trend for ‘love and relationships’ too, with only just over a quarter, 26 per cent, thinking that cheating had increased there. Greece had the most people thinking cheating in ‘love and relationships’ has increased, with 69 per cent, followed by the USA at 58 per cent – all other countries came in at under half believing this of their own countries.

% saying fraud/cheating is more widespread today than 10 years ago

About the survey

The survey was carried out by GfK Custom Research, on behalf of The Wall Street Journal, in March and April 2008, interviewing a total of 19,760 people across 19 countries.