Combating corporate frauds through whistle blowing

Whistle blowing is an act by which an employee in an organisation makes public announcements of incidents of malpractices within the organisation or otherwise perpetrated by the organisation. The whistle blower is considered a hero or a traitor, a do-gooder or a crank, a role model or a non-conformist troublemaker - depending on one's point of view. Whistle blowing is a universal phenomenon. Whistle blowing is one of the most useful tools for combating corporate corruption, corporate frauds, accounting frauds and corruption at various levels in the public life.

Whistle blowing can be successful only when the whistle blower has adequate knowledge about the irregularities, violation of laws or corrupt practices, which are being committed, and how the public interest is affected.

The objective of the present paper is to understand the concept of whistle blowing in organisations and the prominent role it plays in combating corporate corruption and frauds.