Billions of dollars are lost every year to occupational fraud or White collar crime. Businesses have been forced into bankruptcy because of fraud. In this day of blurred lines between right and wrong along with an end justify the means mentality, fraud is on the rise. Is your business at risk? Probably so, if you have any employees’, receive deliveries, or have accountants, managers or bookkeepers handle any of your business. To prevent fraud from happening in your company you need to understand the dynamics of this crime.
There are 2 main sources of fraud. The first is internal meaning an inside job usually an employee of the company. The second form is external and this is likely to be perpetrated by an outside vendor or supplier. Most fraud, unfortunately, is an inside job.
The United States Chamber of Commerce estimates that employee theft costs businesses somewhere between $20 and $40 billion per year. As indicated previously not all fraud is committed by employees. Vendors and suppliers can easily scam a business if the right checks and balances aren’t in place and that increases the amount of revenue lost to fraud by a substantial amount.
Who is more likely to commit fraud?Most fraud is committed by those in the position of authority who have control of information. They are less likely to be questioned. Managers and professionals have the capacity to commit fraud and conceal information relating to it. That, however, does not mean that fraud is not committed by other employees.
Spotting possible fraud ;
The obvious indication is missing funds, but there are other things to look for. Identification of red flags of fraud is the first step in recognizing and stopping fraud. Be aware of the signs an employee might be committing fraud.
These signs may indicate that an employee is perpetrating fraud;
An employee constantly at work, coming in early and leaving late may indicate that something is going on. Be aware that some frauds require constant manipulation of information to remain hidden. If the perpetrator was not at work, the fraud may be exposed
Watch for an autocratic management style that ignores employee complaints or suggestions and discourages criticism of their own actions and their actions are often unaudited.
Key employees having too much control without audit checks
The red flags alone may not be the reason for an employer to take action against an employee. They are, however, cause for scrutiny and further investigation.
Daily there is a very good chance you will read an article in local newspapers about one or more employees caught stealing or unlawfully taking something from their place of employment be it; theft, pilfering, larceny and or outright embezzlement. Every year billions of dollars are lost by businesses nationwide to employee fraud and theft and the number of incidents is rising with small businesses, which usually focus on product development, marketing and sales, are particularly vulnerable.
Businesses can not run properly without its human resources, however, some employees of the company can defraud and with the result of the business suffering losses or even going bankrupt from occupational frauds.
Owners and senior management of small-medium and big businesses have to pay attention to a lot of activities and make a number of decisions each day which may not allow enough time to diligently concentrate on each functional areas, therefore, business requirements to build a solid internal control system to prevent fraud or error.
This system should set out policies and procedures for processing, recording and reporting financial data and securing a company’s assets.
Typically, frauds occur in the following areas;
Accounts receivable — This entails an employee or accomplice diverting customer payments for his own use. This usually involves opening a bank account with a name similar to the company’s name and deposits checks meant for the company in it. Inventory fraud. This involves an employee appropriating business inventory for personal use stealing inventory for resale. This is more common with consumer goods that are small and easy to conceal. In addition to stealing for personal use. Purchasing fraud. High stork businesses are particularly vulnerable to fraud and it is an area that represents the large risk for embezzlement. This usually involves paying invoices to fictitious companies. The employee establishes a fake entity and has it enter into the company’s system as a vendor and then produces invoices from the fake vendor, which get processed. Cash fraud. Company’s cash is an inviting target for fraudulent activities. Employees usually use company checks to withdraw cash directly or pay personal expenses or may skim cash off the top before it enters the accounting system.
About Author:
My name is Janise and I am business coach and
zodiac casino flash review writer with 6 years if experience. I want to help people how to manage their business life and their budgets.
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