While nearly two-thirds of 390 C-suite and board-level executives in 90 countries interviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP acknowledged having witnessed evidence of some form of corruption on their watch, only 22% expressed confidence that the risk management programs that their companies have in place are effective when it comes to identifying and mitigating that risk. Two problems were uncovered by the survey: The critical program element of rigorous risk assessment is more than half of the time left out of programs, and only a quarter of the executives surveyed said their companies perform pro-active risk assessment or monitoring. "Companies now have a compelling–and some might say, urgent–business case to support the development and implementation of a formal and strategic anti-corruption program," says David Jansen, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner.

In recent years, companies caught breaking anti-corruption laws have individually paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, suffered damage to their reputations and seen executives sent behind bars, Jansen says. The potential for corruption also hinders certain business opportunities: Nearly 45% of the executives surveyed noted that their company hadn't entered certain markets or pursued certain prospects because of the likelihood of encountering corruption. They indicated that they feel particularly vulnerable in emerging markets, such as China, India, Russia and South America. They also feel that they have lost bids because of corrupt officials (39%) and their competitors pay bribes (42%).

The results are available in a report, "Confronting Corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption program."