Accountancy fraud is a serious issue that affects businesses and individuals, locales, and sectors. While we’d all want to assume our workers are devoted and aiming for the sake of the company, there seem to be a variety of motivations for your staff to conduct fraud, as well as a variety of methods they may use.
When questioned, most small company owners would indicate that they may have put their chartered accountant in a position of substantial trust. People may feel particularly connected to this someone or assume nothing could have happened. While it may appear to be a sensible course of action, most fraud is perpetrated by people nearest to the owners.
Brian C Jensen says you may use unrecovered cheques to identify “phantom workers” if your firm distributes accurate payments on a random week. Suppose a shop manager looks at sales patterns and notices an abnormal increase in refunds or a cash drop. In that case, they can start looking into who is genuinely working or who has connections to these cash patterns.
There is no dependable way of employee assessment to avoid employing a prospective fraudster. Security auditors and a counter fraud specialist that assist in dissuade, and identity fraud are the only effective methods to stop accounting fraud.
The following are the crucial actions to take, by Brian C Jensen.
- Clients should examine their essential controls, such as cash receipts, balancing items, and newspaper articles, as one of the inputs accountants most often propose. It’s even preferable if the company conducting the evaluation keeps track of everything they glanced at and how they dealt with any issues that arose.
- A single dedicated money person is familiar in low- and medium enterprises. They are in charge of paying invoices, issuing salaries, bookkeeping, and dealing with bank deposits. Because they may either conceal their traces or rely on the fact that nobody else is carefully reviewing the books, this sort of arrangement can lead to accounting theft remaining undiscovered for months.
- According to Brian C Jensen, management should create internal control systems to avoid fraudulent actions. It can include specific processes and documents for obtaining travel and other expenditure refunds.
- One example is establishing a credit administration system, including demanding several bids or quotations for items over a cash level. Some controls, such as random audits, must not be made public, but it is a smart option to inform staff that you have various specialized rules in place to avoid theft.
Monitor effectively
Even though two separate persons handle accounting and account receivables, a manager should monitor the job effectively. It minimizes the likelihood of fraud cooperation and allows for speedier detection of fake entries.
Fraudsters frequently exhibit behavioral characteristics that suggest their desire to defraud. Watching and hearing from workers can aid in the detection of possible fraud. Managers must engage with their staff and spend time getting to know individuals. Sometimes, a shift in attitude might alert you to potential danger. It can also show concerns, and you need to handle them internally.
