According to the Washington Business Journal, a woman from Maryland pled guilty to stealing $5 million from a non-profit over an eight year span. She generated fake invoices, approved the invoices for payment, and deposited checks into accounts she had created. She even created invoices and approved payments to a bridal shop she privately owns.
How can you prevent this from happening to your business? It is important that you instill strong internal controls within your business and more importantly, implement a good transparent accounts payable process. Having clear duties for each working group is critical. No one person should handle more than one type of function. It is also a best practice, within any industry, to review master vendor files on a regular basis to help detect and deter fraud.
Don’t let this happen to your business. Take action and make sure you have strong, effective internal controls in place.
To read the full article from the Washington Business Journal, click here.