A report in the Christchurch (NZ) Press today noted that on average, it takes 201 days to detect internal organisational fraud and 206 days to detect external fraud. Typically, the main system in most organisations for fraud prevention is internal controls. The report also notes that fraud committed by management takes on average 514 days to detect and for senior executives, 545 days. The amount of time taken is considerable and it is possible that in some organsations, some people developing or using the internal control systems are the ones misusing it for their own purposes. It pays to get an organisation’s internal control systems and all their interrelated systems in general, checked by external risk management people, so fresh eyes can see if any gaps and weaknesses exist.