Britain's small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lack a sufficient degree of knowledge in relation to the country's laws governing bribery and corruption, new data has revealed.

Dubbed Bribery and corruption: the impact on UK SMEs, the recent survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 62 per cent of SMEs believe that they have access to insufficient levels of guidance, reports bCentral.

The survey also found that supply chain pressures were identified as a possible cause by 64 per cent of respondents.

"Bribery and corruption are ills which are usually associated with business dealings involving large companies and public bodies," said John Davies, head of business law at the ACCA.

"But clearly, the competitive pressures which can generate bribery and corruption exist at the SME level too," he added.

Moreover, the survey found that in addition to a lack of support, a majority of SMEs lacked sufficient knowledge of laws governing the two issues.

The history of the ACCA goes back to 1904.