Tackling employee fraud: the GBP5 billion question - From expenses fiddles and cheque tampering to taking sick pay from one employer while working a temporary shift for another, the imagination of employee fraudsters is limitless. And the price of employee fraud can be huge - both financially and in terms of the reputation of the employer. The overall cost of fraud to organisations in the UK has been estimated to be as high as GBP5 billion each year. Employee fraud is widespread, as our study of 47 employers confirms. Eight organisations in 10 polled by IRS have dismissed employees because of frauds perpetrated against the employer. And nearly half of the organisations we monitored have made use of the ultimate sanction - criminal prosecution to deal with cases of employee fraud. According to the Audit Commission, many employee frauds are made possible because of poor internal controls and a failure to separate responsibilities. Our overview takes a close look at employers' fraud-prevention strategies.