Internal Theft Investigation and the Real World – Atlanta Georgia

An employee theft investigation is a situation most business owners and managers are uncomfortable with. This is understandable since this is a criminal and civil situation that the average businessperson rarely deals with. Because of this uncomfortable situation, there are trained employee theft investigator s . When an employee commits internal theft by stealing cash, merchandise, time or supplies they commit a clear crime. Most of the time the amount warrants felony criminal charges.

Internal theft in the “real world” happens in every business with employees. We would like to think that the person we hired would not steal from us. But the sad fact is that many do. Internal theft also known as employee theft many times is committed by some of the most “trusted” employees.  The problem is management’s definition of “trust”. Many managers and owners use personal trust in a business environment.

Personal trust is the trust you have in a friend or spouse. You may trust them with your life, house, car or dog. But you do not trust them with your business! In my experience most employee theft flourishes in this environment.

Business trust involves something called “trust but verify”. A good supervisor prevents employee theft and thus the need for an employee theft investigation by not simply assuming that work tasks are accomplished the way you want them. Following up on what and how an employee for instance is checking in stock keeps them on track and cuts down on mistakes and let’s the employee know you are involved. A simple audit of what the employee is doing or has done with feed back to them both positive and negative lets the employee know that any dishonest actions have a good chance of being discovered. Many times employee theft takes root when the employee feels that no one cares or knows what they do.

The same hold true for a corporate fraud investigation. Executives at all levels must be held accountable. Audits by CFO’s should be conducted at all levels. An outside auditing firm can also be used to conduct company reviews. You must tell them to include this type of review with their work.

But for the average small business a corporate fraud investigation will never be needed. Focus should be placed on control of all assets. This can be accomplished with a loss prevention audit or by simply being engaged at all levels.

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