Accountant steals millions and sends employer bankrupt
Date published
August 2010
Relevant impacts: Business impact, financial impact, human impact and reputational impact
Make sure there is managerial, independent or expert oversight
An employee defrauded $19 million from her company. The senior accountant used her access to the company's payroll and superannuation accounts to steal the money. The company collapsed shortly afterwards which led to 1,300 people losing their jobs. The accountant pleaded guilty to 24 counts of theft and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Related fraudster personas
Related countermeasures
Separate duties by allocating tasks and associated privileges for a business process to multiple staff. This is very important in areas such as payroll, finance, procurement, contract management and human resources. Systems help to enforce the strong separation of duties. This is also known as segregation of duties.
Reconcile records to make sure that 2 sets of records (usually the balances of 2 accounts) match. Reconciling records and accounts can detect if something is different from what is standard, normal, or expected, which may indicate fraud.
Automatically notify clients or staff about high-risk events or transactions. This can alert them to potential fraud and avoid delays in investigating and responding to fraud.
Limit access to sensitive information and records.
Make sure a manager, independent person or expert oversees actions and decisions. Involving multiple people in actions and decisions increases transparency and reduces the opportunity for fraud.
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