However, in the wake of the Wollongong City Council corruption scandal, the Illawarra's councils say they have introduced substantial measures to tackle the practice, implementing a range of tough fraud-beating tactics.

An ICAC report released yesterday found only 58 per cent of NSW councils had audit plans and only 44 per cent had fraud-control plans in place.

In stark contrast, 92 per cent of state agencies had audit plans while 62 per cent had fraud control plans.

However, when it came to controlling the risk of bribery through gifts, councils led the way, with 95 per cent implementing gift registers compared with just 75 per cent of state agencies.

Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama councils yesterday revealed they each had executed audit and fraud-control plans in addition to a range of other measures, such as gift registers.

Wollongong City Council general manager David Farmer said there had been several major improvements in the past two years, including the appointment of an internal ombudsman and an independent assessment panel.

"We have developed a fraud and corruption policy, procedures and plan as well as established an audit committee and the corporate governance committee," he said.

Likewise, administrator David Jesson said he believed Shellharbour City Council was now a leading light in corruption prevention.

In addition to established prevention measures, including an audit plan and gift register, Mr Jesson said the creation of an independent watchdog was also now in the works.

Kiama council spokeswoman Diane Ellison said the council took a pro-active approach to corruption prevention and was in the process of reviewing its code of conduct.