C-Suite on Notice

Apathy = Consent

There are thousands of examples of trusted employees committing fraud against their own companies, and many of those employees were in critical positions of trust like accounting and accounts payable. Most of these frauds were detectable with even a minimal level of oversight or auditing. 

Why do these internal thefts persist against legitimate and respected corporations? The primary reason is the criminal intent of the dishonest employee, that can never be disputed. 

But, the ultimate guilt is borne by the C-Suite executives that fail to exercise their due diligence responsibilities to oversee corporate operations. These executives  acquiesce to the fraudulent theft of funds with apathy to their duties. 

When was the last time you called for  an unscheduled audit of any aspect of the operations?

Have you enabled that one, most trusted, most depended-upon employee in a critical position that the company could not do without, who has actually been defrauding the company for years?

Have you made excuses for and legitimized that seemingly ultra-dedicated employee that refuses to take vacation time, thereby enabling their scam to continue unabated? Most of the discoveries of internal fraud occur when the duties for the violating employee are assumed during vacation time off, thereby revealing the theft and policy violations. 

So, how do C-Suite executives deter and detect the internal fraud that is prevalent at almost every company? By conducting unscheduled exams by independent, external fraud auditors. It doesn’t have to be an operations stopping effort, it can be handled by a targeted or comprehensive fraud audit with the full support of management. 

Brought to you by your independent Certified Fraud Examiners at Fittz & Associates.