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Corrupt data.

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorWalton, David
PositionLetters - Letter to the editor

I read with interest the article "Kickback backlash" (March) and was surprised to see countries such as Switzerland and Sweden topping the list as "a measure of how willing a nation's businesses are to resort to giving backhanders", whereas "firms from Russia, China and India are among the least likely to pay bribes abroad". I deal with Swiss counterparts and they have always been the model of decency, so the article appeared counter-intuitive.

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Looking at the source data (www.transparency.org/policy_research/ surveys_indices/bpi/bpi_2006), it would seem that my experience is correct. The table shows the top cluster (including Switzerland, Sweden and UK) as those countries least likely to give bribes, whereas the bottom cluster (including Russia, China and India) are the most likely to pay bribes.

I am disappointed that such a basic error made it into the magazine. As finance professionals, we are often the first in line to explain statistics and we are expected to look behind the numbers to get to the real picture. Surely one of our key skills is that where the numbers do not feel right we should explore the reasons why. That was obviously not the case with this article.

David Walton ACMA

Author's response

In the March issue I wrote that companies in Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Austria and Canada were the most likely to pay a bribe to secure new contracts in foreign countries, while companies...

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