A study earlier this year by KPMG (discussed in this post) found that the "profile" of the most typical corporate fraudster was a male director or senior manager between the ages of 36 and 45, who has worked in the finance department of a public company for more than 10 years. Apparently we can now add "workaholic" to that profile.

According to this article, a new anti-fraud guide due to be released today by Ernst & Young warns that "employees who work excessive hours, refuse to delegate and fail to take up their full holiday entitlement are more likely to commit fraud." In the article, Eamonn Rice, head of Ernst & Young Financial Services in Scotland, explains that

"If there are people who never take a break, and never let anyone into their field of work, there is an increased risk of fraud.

"When someone is away from their work, there are other people who take things over for them. This gives an insight into how that person works and gives you more chance to see what is going on.

"If there are people who are reluctant to let people close to their work it should perhaps arouse suspicions."