Code of Practice on Managing the Risk of Fraud and Corruption: Guidance Notes

Tackling fraud and protecting the public purse are at the heart of public concerns about the way government spends taxpayer’s money.

This publication has two parts: a code of practice and supporting guidance notes. This voluntary code forms a statement of high level principles that sets out counter fraud good practice across the public sector. The code builds on CIPFA’s current guidance, Managing the Risk of Fraud, commonly known as the ‘Red Book’. The supporting guidance within this publication replaces the existing recommended practice.

The five elements of the code are to:

• acknowledge the responsibility of the governing body for countering fraud and corruption
• identify the fraud and corruption risks
• develop an appropriate counter fraud and corruption strategy
• provide resources to implement the strategy
• take action in response to fraud and corruption.

The guidance notes will underpin the code, explaining the importance of the principles and helping the user apply them in practice. The code is suitable for application in all types of public sector organisation but the guidance notes provide guidance on relating the code to the different governance frameworks in operation in the public services. It contains good practice guidance that will be of key interest to those organisations looking to improve the effectiveness of their counter fraud arrangements.

The publication has been jointly developed by the CIPFA Better Governance Forum and the CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre.

The PDF comes with a license that allows it to be shared throughout your organisation. Customers will need to register and login to CIPFA’s website to access the publication.

Details of licensing arrangements for other categories of purchaser, which includes those organisations operating shared service arrangements, are available from CIPFA’s Publications Department.