Fraud Author Tracy Coenen

At a business of any size, it’s important to stop these small frauds quickly. Stop them before they can grow into the big frauds. The key to catching them early is being aware of the signs of fraud and taking quick action. Otherwise, the fraud can quickly snowball, and the company may soon become buried under an avalanche.

It’s hard to catch fraud when it’s small because the fraud is scattered throughout the company. From the expense report abuse by an executive, to a purchasing manager who accepts a personal gift, to the employee who padded her hours, these things can be very small in the grand scheme of things. The mere fact that they’re small makes them hard to detect.

In addition to being hard to detect, small frauds often get a pass from management because they don’t seem worthy of the effort. Even though it may not seem cost-effective to seek out the small frauds, if you look at it in terms of preventing larger frauds, it’s worth it. Halting a small fraud completely prevents that situation from getting out of control. That activity can never turn into a big fraud. That seems worth the effort.

Stopping the small frauds also reinforces a zero tolerance policy. When employees see that fraud and abuse is stopped and consequences are given, that goes a long way toward preventing future frauds. An employee who may otherwise have been tempted to test the system or exploit a weakness may consider the consequences given to other employees who committed fraud.