Employee fraud is common, especially in small and medium-sized businesses. It involves fraudulent activities such as stealing from your organization, deceiving your employer, or illegally gaining financial favor or personal benefits. According to one study, about 46% of organizations have admitted to experiencing fraud in the last two years. While fraud can stem from other sources like shareholders, business partners, or service providers, most fraud threats are internal rather than external. This is why it is crucial to know a fraud red flag when you see it.
Employee fraud can take several forms, but the most common ones include payroll fraud, embezzlement, theft, and bribery. While it can sometimes be hard to detect cases of employee fraud, there are certain fraud red flags to look for.
A sudden change in an employee’s lifestyle that doesn’t match their salary or benefits. For example, you should consider doing workplace investigations if some junior employees suddenly acquire costly houses and cars.
Employees suddenly become secretive and unwilling to share their processes with anyone, not even their bosses. Consider it a fraud red flag if an employee is reluctant to let a third party review their processes and procedures because the chances they are doing something they weren’t supposed to do are high.
You keep receiving tips or complaints that a particular employee indulges in fraud. If this happens, you need to commence workplace investigations immediately to get to the root of the matter. After all, there are indications that up to 42% of employee fraud cases are detected thanks to tips from known and anonymous sources.
Sudden inconsistencies in accounts. For example, sudden, excessive, and unexplainable cash transactions could indicate fraud. Be ready to get auditors to look into your organization’s account to check for discrepancies.
An employee suddenly thinks he is above the laws of the organization, and the rules do not apply to him. Once you notice this, the next logical thing is to get your internal control team on board to begin thorough investigations. Refraining from following proper procedures or adhering to the regulations of your organization is a huge fraud red flag.
You must prevent your organization from fraud as a business owner or manager. So once you notice signs of fraud, you must invest in a thorough workplace investigation to uncover all the criminals and prevent further crimes. Of course, different organizations and institution have their procedures and processes for conducting employee investigations, but these steps can help prevent fraud in your business.
Plan the investigation thoroughly.
Even if you want to investigate a particular fraudulent activity, you must ensure that your investigations have a long-term effect in curbing fraud. This is why it is crucial to plan before delving into the investigations. First of all, you have to choose a great team of investigators who are knowledgeable of your state’s laws and have a certain level of integrity, but you must ensure these investigators are on the same page with you and share your goals, methods, and deadlines.
2. Review your records carefully.
You can gather much evidence through workplace or employee investigation interviews. There is also a great deal of hard possible evidence to comb through, such as videos, records, photos, emails, or documents. Take your time to review these documents carefully to arrive at accurate conclusions. You may also review the personal file of the suspect, including their period of unused leave, whether or not they are logging in and out of the company’s accounts at odd hours, and if there have been any declines in their performance. When you take time to gather information and review it carefully, you not only arrive at an accurate conclusion on the case at hand but also open your eyes to see more loopholes so you can modify your processes to avoid the same or similar fraudulent acts.
3. Analyze your evidence accurately.
It is one thing to get evidence during a fraudulent activity investigation and another to analyze them accurately. This is why narrowing your analyses to concrete, specific, authentic, and relevant evidence for the workplace investigation is imperative. Also, you would save time and energy if you learn to separate facts from opinions. Your goal in a fraud investigation is to prove or disprove an allegation, so you must ensure that the evidence you focus on matches the allegations. However, thoroughly analyzing your evidence will help you arrive at an accurate conclusion, which could discourage other employees from fraud.
4. Drawing conclusions & making decisions.
It is imperative to make decisions once you have concluded the investigation. Your decision could involve terminating the contracts of guilty employees, sending them on punitive transfers, or handing them over to law enforcement if their crimes are punishable. Again, such decisions will deter others from indulging in fraudulent activities. By the end of the corporate investigation, you would be able to identify all the weaknesses in your procedures, systems, and policies.
Most organizations are increasingly experiencing violations from their employees, and when necessary, a workplace investigation must be conducted. Even though some violations are more severe than others, they can harm the employee and the organization. They can be broadly classified under three major categories;
1. Routine violation
A routine violation occurs when employees break the routines recommended for daily activities. Most employees indulge in routine violations to save energy and time. They often believe that following the designated safety rules will slow them down. Unfortunately, many employees do not know the risks associated with routine violations when it is the leading cause of accidents and injuries in most workplaces.
Situational violation
Most employees indulge in situational violations because of sudden pressures at particular times. The right equipment may sometimes prevent employees from violating safety procedures. For example, in the absence of a scaffold, an employee may use a ladder when working at heights. Some employees indulge in situational violations because their jobs are boring and require repetitive tasks. A poor working environment that is cluttered can also increase the prevalence of situational violations from employees.
3. Exceptional Violation
Exceptional violation often occurs when safety rules are broken to perform a new task or deal with an incidental event, like violations that occur during emergency procedures like explosions and fires. Nevertheless, anger, anxiety, and other emotions can also trigger exceptional violations. Examples of situations of exceptional violation triggered by emotions include sexual harassment, physical violence or threats to violence, spreading false rumors, using obscene language, cyberbullying, and destroying the belongings of a coworker or colleague.
However, as an employer, it is your responsibility to conduct workplace investigations to uncover current or previous acts of violations by employees. There are many ways to conduct employee investigations on violations, but these steps will help you uncover both previous and current cases.
Have a complaint mechanism put in place.
One of the best ways to help uncover violations in your organization during a workplace investigation is to put a complaint mechanism in place. But, you must ensure this mechanism allows employees to give tips anonymously. The truth is that some cases of violation go unnoticed because employees who witnessed them are afraid to come in front and speak. Therefore, you must also sensitize your employees about the existence of such a mechanism and encourage them to send tips on past and current acts of violation they have experienced. By so doing, you would uncover old and recent violation cases.
2. Have corporate awareness of what constitutes violation.
Some employees in organizations are ignorant about some forms of violation. Therefore, it makes sense to include sensitization in your workplace investigation plan as an employer. For example, you could seize the opportunity of an existing case of violation to sensitize your employees about all the forms of violation. This will not only help them identify future instances of violation, but some may also remember all the previous instances that went unreported due to ignorance.
3. Gather evidence and analyze them.
Conducting employee investigations requires you and the investigation team to act promptly by gathering as much evidence as possible through interviews, emails, photos, videos, and records. Gathering these materials is one thing, and analyzing them correctly is another. You and the investigation team must ask follow-up questions to prove or disprove the complainant. In addition, the evidence gathered during the investigations may be a pointer toward previous acts of violation in your organization. If you get enough evidence that points to an earlier act of violation, you should investigate the matter and take the right actions.
4. Communicate effectively during the investigations.
Effective communication is crucial to a workplace investigation of violation. If you can communicate effectively with all the parties involved, you will likely extract valuable information that can be useful in uncovering previous and current acts of violation. However, a pro tip for effective communication is to listen carefully to your interviewees and ask them relevant follow-up questions to get as much information as possible.
5. Provide the complainant with a healthy working environment.
While workplace investigations are ongoing, it would help if you provided the complainant with a healthy working environment. In addition, keeping the complainant safe will encourage him to cooperate with the investigations team for the employees’ overall well-being. Of course, cooperation will include citing past instances of violation and giving suggestions on how to prevent them from recurring.
Your business is your livelihood. It’s what you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into establishing. So it can be very devastating to suddenly find out that your accountant has run away with your company’s money. You can actually feel like a rug has been pulled out from under you.
Accountants can steal money for many reasons, including lack of internal control, poor salaries, and obsolete technologies. This is why it’s imperative to always invest in your business by adopting the most appropriate technologies and motivating your workers through attractive salaries and other benefits. Nonetheless, some accountants steal for reasons beyond your control, such as greed. Unfortunately, you can do little or nothing to cure greedy employees.
There are, however, many ways through which accounts can steal money from your business. But then, stealing is mainly made through white-collar crimes like money laundering and embezzlement. Of course, some accountants can also steal huge amounts of money within the business premises. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to get your business back up and running with the help of professionals. Here is what you need to do;
Notify law enforcement authorities.
The first thing to do upon realizing your accountant has run off with your money is to notify the law enforcement authorities of your country. Give them details, including the accountant’s name, how much you think he ran off with, and the last time he was seen within your business premises. This step is crucial as law enforcement would do everything possible to track down the suspect early enough to recover all or part of your money before serving justice.
2. Employ a new accountant
The role of an accountant in every business can never be overemphasized. Accountants play the crucial role of making critical financial decisions by collecting, tracking, and correcting the organization’s financial decisions. So, once you’ve notified authorities, you will need to recruit another competent accountant to take over from the one who ran away with your money. While at it, remember to do a background check on the most eligible candidates before making a final decision. This is to help you not fall into the hands of another white-collar criminal.
Of course, suddenly recruiting an accountant can be difficult and stressful, but it’s essential to getting your business back on track. If you find it too overwhelming to recruit a new accountant, you can hire the services of professional recruiters to help you get a reliable and competent person to fill in the gap.
3. Review your financial records
You also need to review your financial records carefully to ensure all your money is accounted for. A thorough review will help you know exactly how much your ex-accountant must have stolen from you. However, hiring professional auditors for a detailed financial review is advisable. The reason is that professionals will carefully review your business and identify all those areas where your accountant may have stolen from you. Also, professional auditors will give you a better understanding of your financial situation, which will help you make informed decisions on how to sustain your business and prevent it from shutting down.
4.Make changes to your accounting procedures
It also makes sense to modify, update or change your accounting procedures to prevent such problems. Of course, such changes don’t just end with hiring a new accountant, as you could also implement new and more sophisticated accounting software that helps you stay on track with the activities of your accountant. Also, you could make changes to your internal accounting procedures. For example, you could limit access to only authorized personnel in interior areas such as storage areas.
5. Get help from other professionals
Dealing with the aftermath of your accountant running off with your money can be a daunting task. Fortunately, many professionals can help you through this challenging phase. For example, you can hire a lawyer or a professional investigator to cooperate with law enforcement to track and punish the criminal. Also, you could employ another professional accountant to review your financial records, identify areas where you may be vulnerable, and make changes to your accounting procedures. Similarly, you could hire professional business analysts and developers to help identify other business opportunities that could improve your organization’s finances.
The rise and fall of the blood-testing company, Theranos, has already been heavily documented through journalism, a podcast, and a documentary. Consumers have long been privy to the meteoric ascent of alleged wunderkind, Elizabeth Holmes, who started the company when she was only 19 years old in 2003 in the pursuit of developing a method of testing blood that required smaller samples and vastly shorter testing times, all by a machine. As many of us know now, this was eventually proven to be false. While Holmes’ attempts to turn the medical technology industry on its ear may have gone off the rails there has been recent discourse regarding how companies across the entire economy can learn from the mistakes of Theranos’ harmful organizational culture that played a role in its ultimate undoing.
The harmful organizational culture of Theranos likely played a large role in allowing the company to subsist for so long on fraudulent claims to both investors and consumers. Because dishonesty and cutting corners were a major part of the culture within the company, employees at all levels were forced to make a choice to either be complicit in the fraud, or walk away from the operation entirely. However, in examining the culture of fear that Holmes managed to foster throughout her tenure with the company, it’s worth noting how management and executives must be viigilant of similar behaviors within their own corporations to protect themselves against harmful organizational culture.
No Fear Careers
The culture of fear within Theranos was practically by design when it came to defrauding investors. Employees feared they would be subject to litigation or loss of employment if they asked too many questions or became too loose-lipped regarding Edison. This was the first prong in perpetuating the fraud. The second prong was how the harmful organizational culture leaked outside the company to third parties. Not only did it prevent internal employees from blowing the whistle on Theranos’ shortcomings, but it also prevented those outside the company from asking vital questions. Experts who had been contracted to consult or work directly on the project were scrutinizing the capabilities of Edison, but Elizabeth Holmes and her associates were successful in silencing these detractors. As a result, there was never an honest and critical dialogue of Theranos’ mission and values, which contributed to its destruction in 2015.
Discerning Doers
Fear is just one way that harmful organizational culture can poison the company well. One of the greatest marks of a company’s culture can be the measure of those who were either willing or unwilling to hitch their horses to its wagon. It’s easy to dismiss a lower-level employee who could have walked away from the company for a laundry list of reasons. However, the departure of most enmeshed professionals deserves a closer look. Theranos and Holmes poached engineers and technicians from corporate giants such as Apple and reputable scientists to consult on Edison, but when those professionals balked or dissented along the way, they left the project. Advertisers also began to jump ship when their confidence in the product were understandably shaken. What’s important for other business owners to understand is that when there is a pattern of employees or contractors headed for the door, their must be steps in place to ensure the full picture is in crisp focus—things like exit interviews detailing their reasons for leaving, so that any toxic aspects of the company culture will be brought to light.
Corporate Culture Checkup
With the concept of corporate culture encapsulating so many different aspects of a business’ organizational structure, most in leadership are unsure of where to begin when it comes to evaluating it. However, if there’s one main takeaway from the Theranos’ collapse, it’s that corporate culture must be periodically evaluated in order to maintain the company’s mission and values. Because Theranos executives did not prioritize maintaining their corporate culture, a harmful rot was able to infect the organizational structure, and persistently grow over a decade. Not only must leadership invest in having their corporate culture evaluated, but once they have the full picture, they must take concrete steps towards adjusting day-to-day operations, acquiring new tools and methods for reinforcing their culture, and holding any employees who have been involved in misconduct accountable for their actions.
The modern workplace is ever-changing, and with that comes new challenges for employers regarding maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for their employees. As an employer, one of the best ways to ensure your workplace is safe and up to par is by conducting a company culture audit.
A company culture audit thoroughly examines your workplace culture and policies to identify areas requiring improvement. It is often conducted internally to enable managers to see just how well their employees communicate and act and how well the organization’s values are reflected in the employees at every given time.
A culture audit is essential for organizations for several reasons;
It can help point out culture problems.
After a thorough culture audit, the management can uncover several things, including dissatisfied employees, communication issues, and other hidden issues that adversely affect the organization’s culture.
It helps improve the workplace culture.
Managers and business owners can only improve their workplace cultures after measuring them. A culture audit, therefore, helps organizations target all those areas and sectors that require improvements. Besides, a thorough company culture audit can suggest the appropriate initiatives for implementation.
It gives employees freedom of speech.
In most organizations, employees rarely have the opportunity to speak up when they notice a problem with their culture. However, a culture audit allows employees to voice their opinions about the things affecting their culture.
Evaluates how well your efforts have impacted your organization’s culture
As a manager or business owner, you must have taken several steps to create a healthy company culture. Nevertheless, it can be hard to tell the effectiveness of your steps without a proper culture audit. However, through a culture audit, you can get to know the extent your organization’s culture is improving, so you can, in turn, make relevant adjustments.
It helps you retain talents.
Above all, a company culture audit will help you retain your employees. There are indications that most employees would prefer to work in companies with a better culture. According to statistics, 48% of employees who believe their company culture is poor often seek new employment. But then, a company culture audit will help you determine whether your employees are happy, so you can make adjustments and changes before they decide to leave.
However, when conducting a company culture audit, there are a few areas you need to focus on to ensure that your workplace is a safe and welcoming environment for all of your employees. They include;
Workplace safety
Workplace safety comprises an integral part of the workplace culture. Unlike in unsafe work settings, employees are generally happier in safer work environments. Therefore, while doing a culture audit of your organization, you must determine if your existing policies and procedures adequately address safety concerns. You must also find out if the working environment is free of potential hazards. And above all, are your employees trained on how well to stay safe at work? Finally, of course, you should be ready to modify your procedures or suggest actionable steps to improve safety within your organization at the end of the culture audit.
Workplace environment
A favorable workplace environment is undoubtedly more attractive to employees. However, the truth is that when the working environment is conducive, employees can easily work according to their full potential, which is often reflected in high productivity and high-profit margins. Therefore, during your company’s culture audit, you need to determine whether your workplace is comfortable and conducive to productivity. For example, find out if your employees can take breaks when needed and whether they have access to all the necessary resources to do their jobs effectively. Again, after the findings, you should be able to make proposals and take steps toward improving the workplace environment.
Employee wellbeing
Employee wellbeing refers to an organization’s overall physical, mental, emotional, and economic health. Positive employee wellbeing is reflected in high rates of employee retention, higher levels of productivity, and higher profit margins and returns on investment. Therefore, as a leader or manager, you must determine if your employees are supported in their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. And, of course, the best way to find this out is through a culture audit. During the audit, be intentional about finding out if they have access to affordable and quality healthcare. Also, ask them if they have a good work/life balance and take the proper steps to improve their wellbeing.
Diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are also critical in most workplaces. There is always a cause for concern when certain groups of people feel discriminated against within the workplace. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that diversity and inclusion be one of the most significant areas of focus during a culture audit of an organization. The culture audit is, therefore, the perfect opportunity to find out if your workplace represents the diversity of your community and whether or not your employees feel valued and included, irrespective of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other identities.
Sexual harassment and discrimination
Whether we admit it or not, sexual harassment and discrimination are more common in workplaces than many people want to admit. And, of course, it takes a toll on individual victims and the organization. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on sexual harassment and discrimination during a culture audit. You should ask yourself whether you have implemented the right policies and procedures to prevent and address sexual harassment and discrimination within your organization. Also, you must determine if your employees know of such policies and procedures.
