Occupational Frauds and How to Prevent Them?

The worst nightmare of a boss – an employee is unsatisfied with his workplace and chooses to cheat or rob the company. There are several tales of these crimes being committed by workers and causing tremendous harm. You can lead a satisfied and efficient workforce by identifying signs of workplace fraud, and enforcing procedures to prevent it.

Many forms of fraud indeed exist, but not many know much about work fraud. Why is it so necessary for firms to properly defend themselves? What is occupational fraud?

Occasionally, occupational fraud is called in-house fraud, but also refers to workplace or management fraud, and against the corporation.

There are three common operating fraud groups.

1. Corruption

This is perhaps the most common form of job theft. Examples cover blackmail, bribes and kickbacks. Corruption, however, might not be the most prevalent form of job fraud, nor is it on average the most expensive for corporations.

2. Asset misappropriation

Deployment, skimming, bribery and larceny, among other examples, are the most prevalent type of workplace fraud (false sales and shipping, stealing of office equipment, etc.).

3. Financial statement fraud

This is probably the least prevalent cause of occupational theft, but it’s definitely the most expensive for corporations. Examples include misrepresentations, fake profits and incorrect valuations of properties.

Based on their attempts to introduce firewalls, warning systems and encrypted system access, companies are also centered on external threatening issues. Yet work theft is more prevalent and causes companies more financial damage than third-party fraud. Better controls and security mechanisms must be introduced by companies to prevent workplace theft.

Affect of Occupational Fraud on Small Businesses:

It is important to remember that all organizations, whether strategically organized or opportunistic, have a susceptibility to fraud, regardless of their size or influence. However, small companies tend for a variety of reasons to be in a higher risk group.

Usually, small companies have less money than big businesses to devote to fraud controls. Not just that, smaller companies usually have greater faith in their workers, which makes them impractical to spend extra capital.

As per the ACFE 2018 National Report, vulnerability of small businesses lose to occupational theft is much greater than big businesses! Furthermore, they are nearly seventy percent more likely to face fraud due to a less control in small companies than in big corporations.

One fact, that took me on surprised, is that the owner/official person of a small enterprise (fewer than 100 workers) is almost twice more likely to fraud than a large enterprise.

Tips for Business Corporations to prevent themselves from Fraud:

To strengthen controls in your company it is important to follow a calculated and strategic approach. Too fast, risks alienating the staff and providing a sense of mistrust. My recommendation is to continue with training of workers on office education and fraud, first for supervisors, then for personnel. Fixing the atmosphere at the top, and implementing an anti-fraud program implies that management takes the company seriously, and protects its staff throughout this aspect.

it is necessary to keep a track record of your employees  – do they a life, which they cannot afford? Are they get unusually close to those distributors or suppliers? Does management have an unjust sense of undue responsibility to meet results without ample support? There are some of the red flags of conduct that might be of superior concern.