Case study In 2002 small businesses lost an average of 127 000 to fraud and embezzlement by employee...........

 In 2002, small businesses lost an average of $127,000 to fraud and embezzlement by employees, with a total impact estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars a year. And the problem, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, is getting worse. Why? What''s happening in the small business world Are there a million little Enrons out there? One answer is straightforward—small businesses must place their trust in employees (often only one employee handles the financial books) far more heavily than big businesses. A small business owner simply mast pay more attention to the work at the grass roots level and growing the business into a profitable enterprise.

Ex-cashier gets five-year RI embezzlement case :May 8 2013 Times of India

A local court, on Tuesday, sentenced a former cashier of the UT electricity department, Mangat Ram, to five-year rigorous imprisonment. On Monday, Mangat Ram was convicted in an embezzlement case of Rs 1.6 crore. Besides the jail term, the court of additional district and sessions judge Shalini Singh Nagpal also slapped a fine of Rs 1.65 lakh on the accused. The case dated back to March 28, 2008 when executive engineer of the electricity department Anil Dhamija submitted a complaint against Mangat Ram to the Chandigarh police. The complainant said he had embezzled Rs 1.6 crore by submitting fake challan vouchers

Discussion questions

1. What would you do to strike the balance between trusting and not trusting your employees?

2. Is this something we should be concerned about in small public or non-profit agencies?

3. What should be to reduce embezzlement in public offices ?

By: Mona Kaushal