Exploring the incidence of corruption and fraud in indigenous corporations

This research explores the incidence of corruption and fraud in Indigenous corporations with respect to Australian Government grant funds. Since instances of corruption and fraud were found, this research also determined the extent and nature of this misconduct and whether cultural and/or other factors and conditions impacted on its occurrence. This information was then compared to similar data relating to organisations in the wider not-for-profit, private and public sectors.
The research was conducted in three phases and used a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches. This included multiple data collection methods, namely data requests, interviews and a questionnaire. For the most part, the three phases of the research proceeded simultaneously.
This research concludes that grant corruption and fraud is not a significant problem in Indigenous corporations and that when it does occur, it is usually small in financial value. However, incidents of corruption and fraud in an Indigenous corporation are more likely to occur where a corporation is reliant on a combination of grant funding and other income. This is particularly the case for corporations who are reliant on a combination of grants and income generated from business operations.
This research also concludes that the typical perpetrator of corruption/fraud in an Indigenous corporation is slightly different to that in a not-for-profit organisation and large organisation and that the type of corruption/fraud is similar; however different types of organisations (Indigenous corporation compared to not-for-profit and large organisations) reported experiencing slightly different types of corruption/fraud.
This research also concludes that the typical perpetrator of corruption/fraud in an Indigenous corporation is slightly different to that in a not-for-profit organisation and large organisation and that the type of corruption/fraud is similar; however different types of organisations (Indigenous corporation compared to not-for-profit and large organisations) reported experiencing slightly different types of corruption/fraud.