CFO.com reports that the SEC is increasing its focus on large companies, in an effort to bring financial fraud to the surface.

Susan Markel, SEC Enforcement Division chief accountant, said over the weekend that the regulatory agency is bringing more financial fraud cases against big-name, Fortune 500 companies. For example, last year the SEC brought 199 financial cases, and 34 of them involved Fortune 500 companies, or 17 percent of the total. That compares favorably with the total of 79 financial fraud cases in 1998. Only four of those cases — just 5 percent — involved the 500 largest companies, according to the report.