ISO 37008 ‘Internal Investigations of Organisations – Guidance’

Internal investigations are evolving to address the growing intricacies of financial crimes, fraud and misconduct while facing increased scrutiny from regulators and enforcement agencies worldwide.

Organisations globally lose approximately 5 percent of their annual revenue to fraud, an estimated loss exceeding US$5 trillion (India: ~US$169 billion) . However, an effective fraud investigation process as part of the incident response framework can offset this loss to some extent.

Many organisations have attempted to streamline their investigation framework through internal policies, customised investigation manuals, etc. In terms of best practices/guidelines, the recently introduced ISO 37008 Internal investigations of organisations—Guidance issued by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) stands out as a pivotal development.

ISO 37008 is universally applicable across various organisations and industries, providing a structured framework for internal investigations in line with standardised procedures.