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I've come across a number of really great research reports over the past few weeks, and wanted to share them with you. In each case I'm finding myself going back and finding a new nugget that directly relates to Governance, Risk and Compliance, and the challenges our customers and prospects face. I'd encourage all of you to download these reports if you have not already done so.

Kroll Global Fraud Report
This is the latest of the Kroll Fraud reports, where they survey hundreds of senior executives across the world to understand the impact of fraud and corruption, both in individual industry segments and in specific geographic regions. One of the things that stood out to me on first reading was that the overall incidence of reported fraud did not increase significantly during the past year, despite what was expected. But there are differences across the various industries and countries worth understanding.

If you'd like to get a quick overview of the contents in the report, you can attend a webinar we are hosting with Blake Coppotelli and David Holley of Kroll.

Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2009
Learned about this one from the excellent FCPA Blog. This is a really comprehensive report (weighs in at 496 pages!) which definitely requires multiple visits. But to give you a taste of what's inside, consider:

• 90% of the top 200 businesses worldwide have adopted business codes, but fewer than half report they monitor compliance!
• Companies with anti-corruption programs and ethical guidelines are found to suffer 50% fewer incidents of corruption. While that may seem obvious -especially based on other research - the question I would have is why, then, do not all companies have business codes, and why do relatively so few monitor compliance?

Fulbright's 6th Annual Litigation Trend Survey
Stumbled on the 5th annual survey last year, so was pleased to learn the latest version is out. Interestingly, as opposed to what Kroll reports, this survey of mostly General Counsels, Head of Litigation, and people with titles just below those (e.g. Senior Counsel, Associate General Counsel, etc.) reported that the incidence of companies reporting corruption/bribery investigations over the past 12 months has nearly doubled since last year! But bribery/corruption is not the only thing with which these respondents are challenged. According to the survey 40% have seen increases in wage & hour, multi-plaintiff and employement cases over the past year.

As I said, there is a lot of great information in these reports - hopefully you'll learn something as well!