Christmas a prime time for fraudsters to strike
The Christmas period is a prime time for employee fraud, as businesses become more lax with their procedures, and permanent staff go on leave, according to Warwick Dolman, fraud investigator at Dolman Bateman.

“Christmas is typically the time of year when bosses hand over control of various tasks to other, often more junior staff, and businesses generally become less careful about monitoring procedures. This can provide the perfect environment for a would-be fraudster to exploit,” said Dolman.

“Staff with less commitment to the organisation are also more likely to commit fraud, which is one of the risks associated with hiring temps to substitute full time workers who are on leave.

“If companies are hiring temps, they should make sure that their duties are narrowly defined, and that their activity stays under constant supervision by a permanent member of staff at all times. Temps should only have limited access to sensitive information and financial instruments.

“Therefore companies, particularly large ones, need to make sure that their systems are flexible enough to adapt to these changed circumstances.

“For example, companies should have the capacity to issue temporary passwords, which assign a specific level of clearance to the user, and limit access to funds.

“From a management point of view, senior staff should be careful about how they allocate tasks. It is always preferable to allocate tasks up the chain rather than down the chain, and there should be systems in place to effectively track allocated activity.

“We have even come across situations where signatories have signed blank cheques before going on leave. This sort of behaviour is a common mistake made by small business owners who rely on other people to keep the business going while they go on holiday.

“In the case of both small and large companies, it would be prudent to plan the allocation of tasks and responsibilities well in advance, so that the right systems can be implemented to guard against the possibility of a staff member exploiting the situation and committing fraud,” said Dolman.

Dolman Bateman specialises in the detection, investigation and minimisation of fraud in the workplace, and has developed a cultural survey to determine the anti-fraud strength of an organisation’s culture. Warwick Dolman CA, CPA is a founder and Director of Dolman Bateman.

Dolman Bateman has also launched a free online fraud check-up on their website. Any business can go to the website – www.dolmanbateman.com.au – and answer a series of short questions designed to assess the likelihood of employee fraud occurring in their business.

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Released for Dolman Bateman by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations. For further information contact David Lizzio or
Kristen Mackie on (02) 9413 4244.