Tax matters include tax advocacy, compilation and review of financial statements, tax reporting, and tax planning in such areas as income and estate matters. James A. Horty, Jr., one of our forensic examiners, sits on the American Board of Forensic Accounting. Any business can find itself the victim of employee theft. In surveys, up to one third of employees admit stealing from their employers in some manner. The most important step is to foster an atmosphere of honesty and integrity.
Employees steal because of weaknesses in internal control and checks within the company.
They also steal because they feel they will not be caught and, if they are caught, the employer will not prosecute them for their theft nor will they lose their jobs. If management is perceived to be abusing company benefits or is seen removing assets such as inventory, they should certainly expect that the employees will follow suit. If the employer fails to employ the necessary personnel to have sufficient division of duties and other internal control and check procedures to make employee fraud difficult, the employer should expect a problem. Finally, when people are caught and the police are not brought in and no action is taken, an attitude will exist in the company where employees will assume that they can get away with acts of dishonesty. There are a number of precautions that employers can take to make it difficult for employees to steal.