Employee Theft – Stop It Before It Stops You in Atlanta Georgia

How big is the problem of employee theft?

 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that over 30% of all corporate bankruptcies are caused by employee theft.  The U.S. Small Business Administration says that 60% of small business failures are attributed to internal theft.

 My estimate is that with many businesses struggling to survive in the current economy that the figures can only go higher.

 What can a business owner do to avoid becoming a statistic?

 The first thing to do is to try to prevent employee theft from becoming a problem in the first place.  When formulating policies and procedures, think like a corporate fraud investigator.  Identify any vulnerability in the systems and eliminate them through a system of chain of command, supervision, and delegation of duties.

 One of the most common scenarios in corporate fraud investigation concerning the theft of money occurs when one employee (usually the accountant or the bookkeeper, unfortunately) has the responsibility for receiving the money, depositing the money, and disbursing the money in cash or by check.  And there are so many ways to steal and get away with it for years:  payroll, vendor payments, petty cash disbursements, expense checks can all be falsified if there is no oversight.  If the same employee has access to the company credit card, look out.

 That’s just the cash end.  There is also merchandise or product to consider if you are a retailer or manufacturer, raw materials used in production, and samples are all company assets.  A corporate fraud investigator look at all the ways company assets like these can be removed from the premises, and devises methods to prevent employee theft from becoming a fact.  Business owners and managers should learn to think in this mindset.

 Then there is company property like office supplies, tools, vehicle supplies, computers, peripherals and software that is subject to internal theft and fraud.

 Finally there is time theft that can become a problem through falsified time records and employees working on personal projects while being paid by the company, which is fraud that can be corrected through a corporate fraud investigation.

 When considering ways to eliminate employee theft, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, only to adapt it to your own use, if you are a business owner or a concerned manager.  An experienced corporate fraud investigator can be a huge benefit in ways other than looking into isolated instances of internal theft after the fact and conducting an employee theft investigation.  There is no reason to wait until workplace theft becomes such an issue that it puts the business in jeopardy.  He or she can take an overview of your business and recommend steps to be taken to correct deficiencies and vulnerabilities in the operations of almost any category of business, small or large.

 If an employee theft investigation is warranted to a specific incident or just a suspicion, the corporate fraud investigator has the experience and knowledge to bring the situation to a successful conclusion and how to obtain restitution in full.

 For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation , internal theft , corporate fraud investigation or corporate fraud investigator contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia