Organizational fraud is everywhere, and it is costing businesses trillions of dollars in annual loses. As we?ve mentioned before, fraud can and does occur at all levels and at all types of organizations. Fraudsters are everywhere! They occupy all rungs of the organization ladder and are always finding ways to steal from their organization to enrich themselves. Why would you place your organization at a financial peril when there are ways that you can minimize or dismiss fraud?
The Backgrounder on Fraud
For every fraudster there is, there is an underlying need, a rationale, and an opportunity. Situations such as financial pressures, addictions, or family troubles can turn even the most trustworthy individuals into conniving thieves. It is just human nature and everyone is susceptible to it. Question is, will you let yourself fall victim to this?
Managing Fraud
Though it is true that fraud exists in every nook and cranny of all organizations, there is no need to see fraud prevention as an exercise in futility. Fraud, just like any other not-so-palatable things in this world is manageable (yes, just like any other risks!) and how you approach it will determine whether you?ll fall victim to it or be a victor.
But how?
It truly is all about risk management!
When you know the sources of the risks, what you stand to lose with those risks, and the what tactics you can use to minimize those risks, you?ll be in good hands, especially if you do the following actions:
Identify Fraud Opportunities
Fraudsters will tend to go for the biggest opportunities for committing fraud. This means that employees involved in financial operations and the like have a higher probability of committing fraud. Another factor is the position in the organization, since higher loses results if someone with a higher position commits fraud.
Work with Everyone
You?ll need all the help that you can get to detect fraud, and that involves help from possible whistleblowers. Having a great whistleblower program that protects the tipper from retaliation can be one of the best tools for fraud prevention.
A well-designed whistleblower program goes a long way in fraud detection and prevention. It helps facilitate an anti-fraud culture that eradicates fraudsters and favours the organization.
Periodically Tweak Your Process ???????
Because of the pressures of cyber-automation and globalization, organizations are evolving at a very fast rate these days as compared to just a few years ago. This means that the fraud-control measures that your organization installed a few months or a few years ago may now be obsolete.
Don?t forget that technology is continually evolving and that with changes comes new ways to exploit any weakness in your process. This is why it is of utmost importance to revisit your anti-fraud policies (on a yearly basis at the very least) to evaluate if they are still at par with what?s needed to keep loses at a minimum if fraud should occur.
Fraud is never going to go away, but you can minimize your losses to near zero by protecting yourself and understanding the hard truths about managing fraud. Want to know more about how you can do this? Then contact us and experience how it is to have the best private investigators in Toronto on your team!
