ECCTA failure to prevent fraud: a guide for audit committee chairs
The audit committee provides the oversight and challenge that top-level commitment depends on. DefenceFile gives the committee a clear, sign-off-gated view of where fraud-prevention evidence is complete and what is still open, so oversight is demonstrable.
The sample board pack opens in your browser — no email, no form.
What you are accountable for
You provide independent oversight and challenge of the fraud-prevention programme, and your committee's engagement is itself top-level-commitment evidence.
The worries
- Committee oversight is real but hard to evidence after the fact
- Board packs assert readiness without showing where the gaps are
- Challenging the programme without a clear view of the evidence
How the defence file helps
- Review a sign-off-gated board pack that shows coverage and open gaps honestly
- See associated-person and risk-assessment evidence at a glance
- Record committee challenge and decisions as oversight evidence
- Track unresolved blockers to closure across meetings
Evidence to prioritise
A board pack that shows evidence coverage and open gaps, not just assurances
Minuted committee challenge and decisions
A blocker list tracked across meetings
Audit Committee Chair questions
- What should the audit committee see for this offence?
- A clear, honest view of fraud-prevention evidence — what is complete, what is open — plus the risk assessment and oversight trail. DefenceFile assembles that view; the judgement on adequacy is the committee's and its advisers'.
- How is committee oversight itself evidenced?
- Through minuted engagement with the programme and the sign-off trail on the board pack. The platform keeps that record dated and discoverable.
- Does a green dashboard mean we are compliant?
- No. Coverage shows how much evidence is organised against the principles, not whether a defence would succeed — a fact-specific legal question. DefenceFile is deliberately built not to overclaim that.
For other roles
- Company SecretaryHow company secretaries evidence board commitment and governance for the ECCTA failure-to-prevent-fraud offence — a reviewable defence file.
- Head of Internal AuditHow internal audit provides independent assurance over ECCTA fraud-prevention procedures using a reviewable evidence trail.
- Chief Risk OfficerHow CROs own the fraud risk assessment and monitoring for the ECCTA offence and keep the evidence reviewable in a defence file.
Keep going
- Failure to prevent fraud: the offence explainedThe statutory offence, the size test, and what a defence file is for.
- Reasonable proceduresHow the six principles map to evidence you can organise.
- Straight answersSourced answers on scope, penalties, and the defence.
- Pricing and pilotsHow a structured pilot review of your evidence works.
DefenceFile organises evidence for legal and compliance review. It does not provide legal advice, create privilege, certify scope, certify reasonable procedures, or guarantee that a statutory defence will succeed.