Nearly 40% of Northern Ireland’s public and private sector organisations have fallen victim to economic crime, it has been claimed.

Such crime is costing some £14m a year across the UK and economic advisers PricewaterhouseCoopers have launched what they are calling the PwC Fraud Academy to help combat it.

It is a forum for the pooling of information on how to recognise, prevent and investigate fraud, bribery and other economic crime.

Ian McConnell, forensic services partner for PwC in Northern Ireland, said the economic downturn was exposing a growing number of frauds.

“The downturn is affecting organisations of all sizes and in all sectors,” he said.

“Banking covenants are being breached, costs are being cut, reputations and businesses are on the line; and the pressure for some to ‘cross the line', or to turn a blind eye while others do so, is growing.

“Fraud, economic crime, blackmail and bribery thrive in an environment of uncertainty and fear and public and private sector organisations alike, need to look at the measures they have in place to resist this trend. The Fraud Academy will provide a forum for clients’ regulators, victims and other interested parties to share knowledge at a time of unprecedented change in how fraud and economic crime are being perpetrated and combated.”

Mr McConnell said Fraud Academy members included people working in finance, internal audit, security, in-house legal, non-executive directors and compliance functions.

According to PwC, regulators are also showing a renewed desire to work with business to understand how to enforce the rules.

Richard Alderman, head of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “There is so much more that the SFO wants to do to help society protect itself from serious fraud. This means engagement, talking to companies, to professional advisers, to regulators and to international partners.”