Some Warning Signs of Occupational Fraud

The economy developed at very fast speed, traps are immanence in the world. How to detect and prevent it?

In general there are often subtle clues that fraud is afoot. By being aware of what these warning signs are, you can be alert to them and possibly help avert a loss from fraud in your company.

1. Accounting Irregularities

If the fraud is big enough, it will usually show up somewhere in the company's books and records. For example, when a company adds millions of dollars in phony inventory, it make the chain's profits look abnormally high. And at the same time the company was showing record profits, it did not have enough cash on hand to sustain its operations. One of the first clues to trouble is a company showing record "profits" but no money.

2. Rule-breakers

Breaking rules includes ignoring generally accepted accounting principles when preparing the company's financial statements and routinely violating the retailer's own written set of internal controls for his/her own purposes.

3. Big Spenders

Big spending has led to the discovery of countless fraudsters. Some of the stories border on the absurd: A crooked banker who had the company jet fly to France regularly to bring back chefs to cook special dinners for him and his guests; a clerk for an insurance company that frequently took her co-workers to lunch in a limo; a middle-level supervisor who bought a multi-million dollar mansion adjacent to a golf course.

4. People With Financial Problems

Just like big spenders, people with financial problems may be more motivated to commit occupational fraud. While most of us with money woes do not steal, some do. In one case for example, two employees worked in the same office. One of the workers could ill-conceal the fact that she was receiving constant telephone calls from creditors demanding money. But one day, the calls simply stopped. Later, the co-worker discovered why: She saw her colleague steal a company check and put it in her purse. Even though it was difficult to do, the co-worker turned her friend in.

Through subtle unmoral clues maybe help the company beyond from fraud, by being aware of what these warning signs are, you can be alert to them and possibly help avert a loss from fraud in your company. But the most important is to develop a standard, precise, strict company system and financial system to protect the company.