Prevent This From Happening to YOU!
Former Cargill Accountant was sentenced to 5 years in prison after admitting to stealing at least $3.5M over the past decade. Cargill reported that this theft also caused the company an estimated $25M-$50M in losses and hours of manpower.
Not only was the company greatly impacted, the former accountant’s actions also affected grain farmers revenue during this time as well.
Also discovered during the audit, was the misuse of the city’s credit card. Allegedly, the former Hartshorne city clerk purchased more than $80,000 in personal items or services as well as misappropriated over $18,000 in court fines.
Prevent This From Happening to YOU!
- Establish a Code of Conduct: A statement to employees letting them know that the company will not tolerate unethical or illegal behavior toward anyone – customers , suppliers, employees or the company itself. Not only give the code of conduct to employees upon hire, but also periodically thereafter, and require written acknowledgement that they have read, understand and agree to comply with it.
- Avoid assigning the same person to handle purchasing and vendor pay ments, or allowing the same employee to manage accounts payable and accounts receivable. If you are a manufacturer or distributor, consider having separate employees managing receiving, warehousing and shipping.
- Have two or more accounting personnel review and reconcile the bank statements, review invoices for approval or modify transactions in the accounting system. This will assist with month to month checks and balances in reviewing financial transactions and flagging any inconsistencies in those transactions.
Make Sure Your Clients Take a Proactive Approach To Protecting Their Business Should a Loss Occur
Make sure your clients have crime insurance. Take the steps to ensure that your clients are covered by calling Berkley Crime.