I hate all these so-called special "days". Many have the best of intentions behind them but there are just too many.

I do my best to ignore the lot. Particularly appropriate then that the United Nations' Anti-Corruption Day should fall on Sunday.

Odd it should be happening on what the Christian tradition regards as a holy day - a religion which offers little succour to the pursuit of money.

Or perhaps that is the point.

And it comes at a time when it seems corruption is becoming ever more common across the world.

According to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, bribery and corruption are not victimless crimes and, they insist, are real threats to fair and transparent business activity that ultimately affects everyone.

Allen Blewitt, chief executive of Acca, said: "Bribery and corruption have been regarded for too long, in virtually every country, as facts of life in business and in the public sector.

"This is a defeatist and indulgent attitude that only perpetuates the problem.

"We need to recognise that, in their various forms, bribery and corruption distort fair competition, increase the cost of doing business and betray the trust of stakeholders.

"It is also a problem that is likely to be encountered by small and medium sized enterprises just as much as by large companies and public authorities."

Naturally, it reckons accountants should be at the centre of trying to do something about the problem.

I could be cynical and suggest they are hardly being altruistic given it will presumably mean lots of extra work for accountants.

But that would be mean-minded and, in reality, with white collar fraud increasingly complex, accountants have to be involved. Often only they can unravel the sums.

But even Acca acknowledges the magnitude of the task.

"Eliminating bribery and corruption from business and government in both developing and developed economies is a hugely ambitious undertaking."

Impossible, perhaps.

Acca has just published a report into the matter and its impact on SMEs which revealed a fundamental uncertainty amongst them about what bribery and corruption amounts to in practice.

Findings from the report - Bribery and corruption: the impact on UK SMEs - showed that over two-thirds (69 per cent) of respondents said that SMEs were likely to be confronted with bribery and corruption in the course of their business dealings.

Never mind the Enrons, it seems that bribery and corruption is alive and well across UK business at all levels.

A bit depressing, really.

Also somewhat ironic that the report should come out just ahead of Christmas when many in business are giving each other gifts.

No harm in that so long as it doesn't get out of hand. Though some would claim this is in effect bribery and corruption I hardly think that would be a widespread opinion. We are talking surely of backhanders, money changing hands in brown paper bags, free foreign holidays, and the like.

But it has become a big problem.