The Serious Fraud Office has a vision of a productive and prosperous New Zealand safe from financial crime, bribery and corruption. Its objective is to become a stronger, more capable agency that will conduct investigations and prosecutions of the highest quality and effectiveness.

This is stated in the SFO's report for the year to 30 June 2016, which has been tabled in Parliament.

Chief Executive and Director Julie Reed says the Office's new strategy to 2020 has been a signficant piece of work in the year covered by the repot.

"We cannot adopt a business-as-usual approach in the face of ever-more sophisticated financial crime, increased responsibilities in the arenas of bribery and corruption, and the need for joined-up thinking to tackle cross-border financial crime," she says.

Ms Reed says working on the SFO's business side is starting to show results.

"Successful performance this year included a significantly higher number of prosecutions achieved than in the previous 12 months and the SFO met or exceeded nearly all the measures that are relevant and appropriate to the way we now operate."

High level SFO measures, year to 30 June