I think this is a tricky subject. I feel that you either have good ethics or you do
not, but there are those situations that even those that have good ethics
struggle. I, personally, could never steal, I am a terrible liar and would suffer
way too much guilt. But based on the fraud triangle, some individuals can
justify it, if only in their own minds. I really think that we need great checks
and balances in every aspect of business, not just accounting. This is not only
to protect the company but to protect individuals. I was put in a position at my
last job, where I handled every aspect of subcontractors from receiving their
invoices to putting checks in the bank bags for deposit. I made my stand very
clear that I was not comfortable with it, if someone wanted to cause issues,
there were places they could and it would look like I was stealing. My boss
was unconcerned with this and was one of the reasons I left. They had very bad
separation of responsibilities and even was dinged on audit for this. This is on
top of having the CFO and her husband embezzle from the company.
I have two situations, one lead me to want to pursue forensic accounting. A
gentleman that I grew up with and was very close with his family ended up
embezzling money from Utz snacks. He created fake invoices and with
another person was able to steal $1.4 million. This was someone that I knew
was a good person and it was very difficult for me to understand why he would
do this. After talking with his brother, I found out that his wife spent every cent
they had and was threating to take their kids and leave if he did not figure out a
way to make more money. He felt the only way to keep his kids was to steal
this money. He justified it as they were making a good profit, so it was okay to
take a little more. Since there was very poor checks and balances in his
department, he was able to do this for some time. For this situation, no amount
of teaching ethics would have kept him from stealing. They needed a better
procedure for many of their processes. (Justice.gov, 2017)
The other case is my former neighbour, who was in her 60's when she
embezzled from the local township. This is a woman that I also knew growing
up and spent a lot of time with her daughter. She stole somewhere around
$200,000 from the township. She wanted to be able to give her kids and
grandkids everything they wanted and then some. She was the only office
person for the township, had access to checking accounts, credit and debit
cards and there were no second signers needed. She was able to purchase
personal items from Amazon and other retailers with no one to question her.
They finally decided to hire an outside auditor after they found that they were
short on money a few times. She had claimed to other township officials she
was doing her own audits. Again, this is a person that I know knew better but
the option was there and she took it. (Justice.gov, 2021)
I know these are small cases and hurt fewer people than say Silicon Valley
Bank but for me these are the ones that hit home on this topic. I know these
people and could never believe they would do something like this. For me, this
shows that this is a situational problem for some. There are individuals that
just have a poor ethical compass, that nothing will prevent them from making
bad decisions also. This shows me that separation of responsibilities and lots
of checks and balances are the best way to prevent this situation.
Justice.gov. (March 23, 2017). Former Utz Quality Foods Vendor Sentenced
in $1.4 Million False Invoice & Kickback Scheme. Retrieved
https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdpa/pr/former-utz-quality-foods-vendor-
sentenced-14-million-false-invoice-kickback-scheme
Justice.gov. (November 10, 2021). Former Jackson Township Official
Charged with Embezzling $170,000. Retrieved a https://www.justice.gov/usao-
wdpa/pr/former-jackson-township-official-charged-embezzling-170000
