Businesses more willing to use bribery and fraud, in one chart
When we found out that Wal-Mart bribed officials in Mexico, it was a huge scandal. But it’s a practice that’s becoming increasingly acceptable among business around the world. A new global survey from Ernst & Young finds that companies are more likely to use cash bribes in hopes of improving their performance than they were two years ago: 15 percent of respondents (who included some firms’ chief financial officers) said they are willing to make cash bribes, compared to 9 percent in E&Y’s 2010 survey. 
(Ernst & Young)
Similarly, 5 percent said they “might misstate financial performance” to make themselves look better, compared to 3 percent in the last survey. Ernst & Young explains that bribery and other corrupt practices are significantly more likely to happen in “rapid-growth markets” in the developing world, pointing out that 39 percent of survey respondents said that bribery and corruption occurs frequently in their countries.
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