Even the most hands-on CEOs aren

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But when the balance sheet started looking hestarted digging. Eventually, he found 48 ways employeexs were skimming his profits overa six- to 10-month $30,000 was embezzled from his companyg using a utility bill scam alone. Now Bridgexs has turned personal adversity into abusinesxs plan. GotRack.com is morphing a bit, having cut payrollo and scrutinized costs. Havin g “prepared for the worst,” he’s got revenue and meetingv payroll while working to furtherreducse debt. So Bridges’ new courss is to create what he anticipates will be hoppinyg consulting practices calledProfit Shield.
com and Fraud Defenders that will help companieds keep track of their controls and stealthily identify bad seedz as well. Bridges will tell his story May 14 at an even organized bythe . His timing is good. Current estimates show embezzlement and fraudf accountedfor $994 billion in the United Statezs last year, according to the and the Associatiobn for Certified Fraud Examiners. That equates to 7 percenft of total U.S. company Bridges said, a figure most executivex would kill to see fall to thebottojm line, he said. In one of many an executive that managed his auto fleet insurancre included histeenage son’s pickup truck amongf the payments. That went on for months.
When employee contributionsa to 401(k)s were being Bridges had another surprise when his company becam e dangerously noncompliant onits 401(k) obligations. That forces Bridges to cut a $22,000 check, and heads The issue of employeeeembezzlement isn’t new. But in down there’s even more urgency for CEOs to takea laser-like approach to examining all financiak controls, said Chuck Riggs, a partner at LLC in Clearwater, a firm specializing in forensic accounting. Now that the tide is out it’s a lot easier to see the “rocks in the Riggs said. His firm’s focuxs with clients: awareness.
Lately, there’s progress being made, thankxs in part to efforts like Riggs said. As CEOs grow they tend to delegated ‘boring’ tasks, like signing checks. “That openz the door to a they need tostay involved,” Riggss said. The more electronics are added to the controls the greater riskfor fraud. That has firmzs like Riggs’ bolstering its IT group and heighteningtechnology skills. “Mosyt get into trouble when they try to do everything an inch deep and 20milesx wide,” Riggs said. That leaves them open to often-experiencesd internal thieves. “They didn’t learn that [expletive] at my company,” Bridgese said.
“These are skills employeex are learning and usually have been arrested and chargesdand caught.” The accused often avoid prosecution if they pay back theier boss. That makes background checkws less relevant, he said. Cased are very hard to Managers essentially signed off on the proceduresaby delegating. Add to that, the people that embezzle tend to have honethe craft. Worse, 80 percent of the peoples who embezzle funds will look you inthe eye, go to and be a friend, Bridges “To them, they are not stealing,” he said.
“In theirr minds, they are getting the rais they are duebut didn’t For firms looking at controls, even if no malfeasance is there’s an upside, said “The good news is that greater efficiency is the