Avery & Associates
|
Avery & Associates |
It
Happens Everyday
Bank Errors- Over the last two years, I have seen example after example of what happens to a company’s cash in today’s environment of superbanks and improved technology. Checks cashed that were never signed, endorsed, or had the word “VOID” written across the face. The vast majority of checks written by New Mexicans are sent to “processing” centers out of state where individual clerical staff “process” thousands of checks every day. This “cost saving” effort by the banks increased the banks error rates to such an extent that almost every single checking account will experience a “bank error” during any given year. Fraud- Martin Chavez is by no means alone. He was the victim of a typical form of small business embezzlement: Employees working without proper safeguards. Control that protect both Employer and Employee. Safeguards that protect cash from mistakes, internal theft, and external theft.
|
Often there is an “excuse.
The thief with the granddaughter with multiple sclerosis. The thief’s
mother requires surgery. Whatever the excuse theft is theft.
Owners or managers often can share the blame. They are too busy to maintain the internal controls necessary. Or the bank and cash reports they are asked to review are too difficult to understand and they will sign off without truly reviewing them. And check fraud is increasingly becoming another form of outside external theft. Desktop publishing technology allows outside thieves to skim from your company by creating their own checks. $50 here, $75 there. “Someone just needs a trusting boss, an understanding of the bookkeeping system, and a motive to steal.” Cash Management- Most small business owners live by cash. The accruals, depreciation expense, and other items that the accountant talks about are just part of the “CPA Full Employment Act”. Small business owners make decisions based on the smell of cash: How much cash flows through their company and how much there is. Even before the increase in bank errors and increased fraud, keeping track of the cash was a challenge for many organizations. What did we get in this week? How much is in the bank? Simple Solution- For an average of $75 per account per month, I will reconcile your bank account and provide a simple report on checks written to Key individuals, New vendors, Errors, Check writing analysis analyzing deposits and checks written, and the traditional reconciliation of the banks’ numbers to you.
|
|
All of the following were reported in the Albuquerque Journal over the last couple of years |
||
|
A Bank allows a West side woman to deposit in her personal account over 400 checks made out to 'Marie Hughes' or 'Marie Hughes Fundraiser' over a period spanning six months. $12,371 embezzled (6/98) |
An employee working in Intel's accounts payable department embezzles over $64,000 (5/97)
|
Employees at the All Indian Pueblo Council take over $200,00 in 'Payroll Advances' that they never pay back. The embezzlement is discovered by a computer consultant working on the database. (12/97)
|
|
An employee at the Make a Wish Foundation embezzles over $170,000 by ordering ATM cards for the charity's bank accounts (11/98)
|
Lockheed Martin losses total over $266,000 to an employee and her husband embezzling through a false accounts payable system (11/98) |
A bookkeeper at the Morarity schools is convicted of embezzling almost $1,000,000 over several years (7/98)
|
|
A former homeless shelter executive director in Aztec pleads guilty to charges of embezzlement and forgery (7/99)
|
$127,000 missing from a Los Cruces Church, non one ever charged (8/00)
|
Ex-Hobbs pastor charged with removing approximately $140,000 from church accounts (7/00)
|
| Services | Business Sense -- Not BSÔ | UNM Students | |
| Contact Us | Home | Usable Information Today for Small Business Owners and Managers | Practicing in Nuevo Mexico |