By Sam
Wade
The world is a different place than it once was and fraud and theft are more common in the workplace than at
any time in our nation’s history. It’s estimated in 2001 fraud cost the United
States economy in excess of 600 billion dollars.
Where once trust between employees and employers acted as a natural barrier preventing criminal acts from occurring our societal
mores have shifted to correspond with the situational ethics of our times. What kind of example does WorldCom and Enron portray
for young people entering the workforce. What once existed for the average person as an unthinkable act of committing a criminal
offense has been replaced with only the fear of getting caught.
And crime does pay until the perpetrator is caught. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in their 2002 report estimated
that small businesses are hardest hit with a typical fraud scheme costing in excess of $127,000 dollars in losses. Your typical small
company or property owner falls into this category employing only a few employees who have access to accounts payable. It
is not uncommon for owners and managers to feel there is a level of trust due to the fact that in small companies people tend
to know one another better than in larger companies. When investigating fraud complaints I heard all too often a business
owner saying but he or she are like family to me. Your employees are human beings
who suffer from the same ills and calamities as everyone else in this world. Whether it is a hidden gambling problem or a
drug and alcohol issue the temptation can and does strike closest to us. And their lies part of the problem. When people are
close to us we refuse to believe that they could or would hurt us.
To protect your self set financial procedures. These procedures will also protect your
employees from being placed in tempting situations and from you having to wonder if one of your own is stealing from you.
Ten
procedures to follow; limit the number
of people who can make purchases and place a limit on the amount, every bill should have a signed purchase order by the person
who authorized it, use sequentially ordered checks and make sure that none are missing and control the stock of blank checks
your company uses, sign all checks yourself or establish a two person signature requirement, when signing a check for an unfamiliar
vendor verify that it is a real company by calling them, have your bank statements sent to your home allowing you time to
check for inconsistencies before any one at the office has an opportunity to doctor
the books, keep a copy of all deposit slips and compare them to your records and have someone other than the bookkeeper
open the mail and prepare deposits, inspect the payroll records to ensure the accuracy of wages and overtime hours and verify
the fact that all of the employees listed are real individuals and not phony or terminated employees. You don’t have
to be paranoid but you do have to face the reality that people make mistakes and guard against being a victim!
