Companies have failed to invest in anti-corruption schemes ahead of legislation that will punish domestic and foreign bribery, research has shown.

More than three-quarters of companies have not invested any money in anti-corruption strategies, and only 12% have spent more than £500 on preparing for the Bribery Act, according to research by business and financial advisers Grant Thornton.

Some 42% of companies had not conducted a thorough assessment of their exposure to corruption risk, or established a clear plan to revise their existing policies, the research found.

The act will introduce a corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery, but companies will have a defence under the act if they can show that they had adequate procedures in place to prevent it. Company executives face personal criminal liability if they connived or consented to offering or receiving a bribe to or from a public official or company representative.

Grant Thornton forensic partner Sterl Greenhalgh said: ‘It is clear that these findings are not exactly good news for the Serious Fraud Office, [which has] undertaken an extensive outreach programme promoting the importance of the new act and the penalties that will come into force.

‘This report shows that there is still confusion, uncertainty and a certain level of complacency about the Bribery Act among corporates.’

Some 90% of the senior executives surveyed said that the government should be doing more to promote anti-corruption measures to foreign governments. Two-fifths said they were concerned that, once the act comes into force, they will lose out to foreign competitors.

However, 80% said that the legislation marked a positive move for the UK.

Grant Thornton surveyed 166 senior executives at leading UK companies.