ECCTA failure to prevent fraud: a guide for CFOs
Much of the fraud the offence contemplates runs through finance: payments, procurement, revenue recognition, and commercial sign-offs. DefenceFile organises the evidence that those controls exist and operate, so the finance contribution to a defence file is reviewable.
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What you are accountable for
You own the financial controls — payment, procurement, revenue, and commercial sign-offs — that prevent fraud committed for the company's benefit, and the evidence that they operate.
The worries
- Strong finance controls, but the evidence they operate is hard to assemble
- Commercial and payment sign-offs are not linked to the policies behind them
- Showing controls held across the supplier and associated-person base
How the defence file helps
- Organise payment, procurement, and revenue control evidence in one register
- Link commercial sign-offs to the policies that govern them
- Hold supplier and associated-person due-diligence records discoverably
- Keep board-facing finance oversight evidence sign-off-gated
Evidence to prioritise
Payment, procurement, and revenue control records
Commercial sign-offs linked to policy
Supplier and associated-person due-diligence evidence
Chief Financial Officer questions
- Why is finance central to the failure-to-prevent-fraud offence?
- The listed base offences — false accounting, fraudulent trading, false representation — often run through finance processes. DefenceFile organises the control evidence; whether the procedures were reasonable is a legal judgement.
- We have controls — why a defence file?
- The defence is evidence-led: it depends on what you can show operated, not just what exists on paper. The platform keeps that evidence dated, linked, and review-ready.
- Does the platform audit our finances?
- No. DefenceFile organises the evidence of your controls; it does not audit, certify, or opine on financial statements.
For other roles
- Chief Risk OfficerHow CROs own the fraud risk assessment and monitoring for the ECCTA offence and keep the evidence reviewable in a defence file.
- Money Laundering Reporting OfficerHow MLROs extend financial-crime controls to the distinct ECCTA failure-to-prevent-fraud question and keep the evidence reviewable.
- Audit Committee ChairHow audit committee chairs and NEDs evidence oversight and challenge of ECCTA fraud-prevention procedures.
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.