Canadian companies are experiencing less bribery and corruption than their global counterparts, according to a survey released today by Ernst & Young.

This year’s edition of the firm’s global fraud survey, “Corruption or compliance – weighing the costs,” shows that 80% of North American companies surveyed reported not a single incident of bribery or corruption in the last two years. This is 15% higher than the survey’s global average.

A total of 25 Canadian and 54 American organizations were among the 1,200 major companies surveyed across 33 countries.

“Canadian and US attitudes towards bribery and corruption are very, very similar,” explained Mike Savage, partner at Ernst & Young and Canadian leader of the firm’s fraud investigation and dispute services practice. “North American companies are much more understanding of whistle-blowing as an effective control than those in any other region. Compared to most regions, we’ve made a lot of progress towards a fair, competitive and transparent economy.”

However, the report notes that despite North America’s relative domestic success in combating fraud and more anti-corruption legislation and enforcement efforts around the globe, corruption remains a risk for operations expanding worldwide.

For example, 25% of respondents said their company experienced an incident of bribery and corruption in the past two years and more than one-third of all those surveyed felt corrupt business practices were actually getting worse. Nearly one-quarter of respondents knew someone in their company had been solicited to pay a bribe to win or retain business.

When comparing sectors, mining companies cited the highest incidences of corrupt practices, with 47% of respondents saying corrupt practices are prevalent in this sector.

On the enforcement side of things, almost 70% of respondents say enforcement has grown stronger in their region over the last five years.