Ingenium Consulting Chicago can help you with an employee theft problem.

Occupational fraud, also known as employee theft, fraud or embezzlement, generally reflects the full range of willful employee misconduct through which businesses lose money. In simple terms, it is when someone through a deliberate process misuses or misapplies the resources or assets of a business for their own personal benefit.   Generally, most frauds go undetected and are uncovered either by accident or as the result of a whistle blower.

About 5 percent of an organization’s revenue is lost to these fraud incidents. That translates into a potential total loss approaching $3 trillion a year, according to a new report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).

What makes this insider fraud so devastating is that most incidents take 18 months to detect — enough time to put a small business out of business or severely damage a corporation’s reputation and employee morale.

The two sectors most stricken by incidents of occupational fraud are two of the most regulated — banking/financial services and the government/public administration. The problem is that the controls put into place to find and combat many forms of fraud, such as internal audits, are not so effective when it comes to detecting occupational fraud.

Surprise audits also are effective at fighting occupational fraud, since most employees who commit fraud are not career criminals and would likely steer clear of a criminal act that could result in job loss or jail time. The fear of being caught is a strong deterrent.

Understanding the profile of an employee who is likely to commit fraud is key. Some red flags to watch:

• Does the employee live beyond his means?
• Is the business structured in a way that would make it easy for the employee to embezzle funds or compromise the company’s information?
• Does the employee feel like he is owed something; or when he gets away with stealing a little, does he rationalize the need to steal more?

At the Ingenium Consulting Group, our employee fraud solution detects fraudulent employee activity across the enterprise, business lines, and channels, providing protection from monetary losses, risk, and brand damage. All of our services are customized to our clients. Interested in finding about our fraud investigation services? Contact us today.