Organisations should ensure they have effective whistleblowing programs, with almost half of all fraud in the Asia-Pacific region detected through whistleblower reports, a fraud specialist has said.

Roger Darvall-Stevens, partner and head of forensic services at RSM Australia, said establishing a proper whistleblower program is a critical part of any strategy for detecting and preventing fraud within an organisation.

"If your organisation doesn't have an effective whistleblower program or a public interest disclosure program if it's a government organisation, where people feel comfortable to raise concerns, then you're missing out," he said, speaking in a recent webinar.

"Around 48 per cent of fraud in the Asia Pacific is detected by someone having the courage to speak up."

Many larger organisations are already required to have a whistleblower policy in place under the law, he noted.

Darvall-Stevens said that many of the instances of fraud found by the clients he deals with are reported by a whistleblower or in a public interest disclosure report.

While fraud can also be detected through data analytics, it can often be someone just speaking up, he said.

He advised companies to be careful when initiating an investigation based on a whistleblower report as there are a number of important steps that must be followed.

"There's a number of tips and traps with whistleblower legislation and public interest disclosure legislation and you can commit a number of criminal offences inadvertently because you are not experienced as an investigator," he said.

Where an organisation does not have a professional with the experience and qualifications to undertake an investigation internally, it can be safest to outsource it to an external investigator.

After any evidence about what led to the fraud has been obtained, an investigator should also provide guidance on how the firm should improve its internal controls to prevent it from reoccurring, Darvall-Stevens said.

He also recommends that businesses test their whistleblower programs to ensure that they're working and effective.

"For example, call the whistleblower portal up at night to see if someone actually answers."