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Crime tends to require three elements: motive, desire and opportunity. Employee theft is no different. Being aware of the reasons leading up to employee theft and learning to identify likely perpetrators can give employers a leg up on protecting their companies from theft.

Motive & Desire

Employees who steal usually have their motives. For example,...

Make no mistake. Payroll fraud is real. Recently, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) found payroll fraud occurred in 27% of all businesses, nearly twice as often in small businesses. Worsening the outlook, payroll fraud lasts for an average of three years, with businesses taking a median hit of $145,000.00. That’s three years...

Sunset Villas is a condominium complex with fifty units on the shores of Lake Michigan. Owners pay $550.00 a month in dues towards neighborhood and maintenance, including the upkeep of the pool and common areas. When the owners hired a property management company, they didn’t realize Sunset Villas was a tempting, lucrative target. Homeowners associations...

On October 31, 2017, SDC held our annual Halloween Costume Contest. Costumes ranged from Peter Pan to a giant grumpy white cat to a witch and even a lamp (complete with cord). This year’s prize winner dressed as an Identity Thief – wearing a black cap and black clothes covered with name tags. All joined...

India is the world’s second-fastest growing economy. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, India’s consumer market is expected to quadruple over the next twenty years. For U.S. small businesses, India holds the promise of tremendous opportunity. As the number of U.S. companies doing business in India increases, the number of Indian policy holders is expected...

In Asia, there is a popular fidelity claim involving the person-in- the-middle scheme. These schemes have increased as more foreign companies enter the market in Asia due to the rapid economic growth and significant consumer market. Language differentials, lack of access to sales channels, requirements of joint ventures, ownership and control by citizens of the...

Running a small business isn’t easy. Small business owners are plagued by concerns: from keeping the business flowing and growing to making customers happy to handling incoming and outgoing expenses to finding, keeping and paying good employees. Many small business owners lie awake at night worrying about how much is in the business bank account....

Recently, this company requested a Big Insurance customer to change our bank account information and to make future payments on invoices to the new bank account. We emailed our contact at the Big Insurance Company and, voilá, the monies were deposited in the new bank account with no confirmation callback. These situations are rife with the potential for...

P-Cards offer certain conveniences organizations find appealing. However, the ease of use goes hand in hand with the ease of abuse. End-user organizations should weigh the balance of the potential benefits and pitfalls of P-Card use in order to detect, mitigate and prevent their abuse.

The Good

1. Cost Savings

The traditional procure-to-pay process is costly, often...

Many companies consider P-Cards (Purchasing Cards) to be efficient for purchasing goods from vendors. P-Cards, also dubbed Procurement Cards (ProCards), Payment Cards or Purchase Cards, are essentially charge cards, similar to consumer credit cards. With the increased use of P-Cards in the corporate, educational and government sectors, in order to choose the P-Card best for the organization.

The Basics