Romanians’ perception of corruption improve in recent years

39 percent of the respondents in Romania consider corruption a generalized phenomenon, compared to 63 percent in Eastern Europe, shows the latest report on fraud conducted by EY at global level.

Also, 20 percent of the companies believe that anti-corruption policies they apply make them less competitive.

The regulatory and compliance actions undertaken by authorities in the past two years have significantly improved the Romanians’ corruption perception as a generalized phenomenon. In this regard, Romania stands a better position than many economies in Europe, such as Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Poland or Austria.

The EY Fraud Survey, “Fraud and corruption – the easy option for growth?” identifies a higher risk of expansion opportunities generated by the pressure to increase business revenues, but also by the market volatility. Challenges such as geopolitical instability, price volatility and exchange rates, as well as the level of penalties push companies and their executives towards a behavior with a high degree of risk.

The global survey, which quizzed 3,800 employees from large companies, including in Romania, showed that about 33 percent of respondents state that the management is under an increased pressure to expand on risky markets. On these markets, 61 percent of respondents indicate a widespread corruption in companies, and 37 percent report that the companies’ financial results are often inflated.

Laura Lica-Banu, senior manager with EY Romania pointed out that “39 percent of respondents in Romania consider that the practice of giving and taking bribes are extended to local businesses. Although this is worrying, if we look carefully, we come to see that in Eastern Europe the general perception of corruption is higher (63 percent), while in the fast-developed countries it reaches 61 percent. Also, the survey participants are more optimistic in terms of anti-corruption measures compared to the situation in the past two years.”

While management might be tempted to take risks to accelerate growth in the short term, the study shows a clear correlation between companies that are growing and the strict appliance of the conformity rules.