A physician became our client because he had been embezzled by his internal bookkeeper. We were going to review his books and gather evidence necessary to (hopefully) prosecute the embezzler. The internal bookkeeper was not sending the payroll taxes to IRS that had been withheld from the employees. This had apparently been going on for a while. The client was distraught and felt helpless. "How could I not have seen this coming?" "She was always here, so reliable, never took a vacation....always ate lunch at her desk.....
Plus, I had periodic financial meetings with her and I completely trusted her. What happened?"
When the IRS phoned, she took the call. When IRS came to the doc's office, guess who met them at the door? Yup, the embezzler.
He was out over $100,000 and now had to rebuild not only his cash flow but his trust of humanity. The embezzler was not prosecuted even though a package of evidence was compiled. It was just too expensive and time consuming. So, once again, the embezzler wins (sort of). Although the wheels of fate are always turning......
DON'T BE THE NEXT VICTIM!!!
What could the physician have done to prevent this? Have mandatory lunches, breaks & vacations for the staff and cross-train the bookkeeper...ALWAYS!
Stay tuned for more juicy stories from The Naked Accountant!!
Next up: Need vs. opportunity....who is responsible for what? This was going to be my topic today; however, since I received yet another embezzlement story from a friend, I decided instead to post the True Embezzlement Story #2.
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