This story was written by one of our employees, Curtis, who is an awesome CPA. I get compliments about him all the time from clients - his efficiency, his courtesy & his effectiveness. He is a fantastic tax manager, knows his stuff and is my right and left hand guy! We ALL at our firm appreciate him and do our best to keep him happy. With nearly 30 years of experience, there is little he has not seen in this world of money, finances & tax! Here is his true embezzlement story.
He trusted her implicitly. While it is okay to trust people, you have to be able to independently verify their work. This office manager started out just stealing small amounts ($20 per day paid in cash by patients etc). Soon, she realized that the doctor was really not paying attention and the stealing was easy. Beside, she reasoned, he was making plenty of money and would not miss it. Gradually, the amounts she took became larger and eventually the doctor finally caught her because she got lazy and forgot to post a payment to a patient's account and the patient got a bill and called the doctor directly to complain. He was dumbfounded when he discovered the theft. He went back through the last years of records and the amount missing was $13,000. She never would admit how long the embezzlement went on but it likely started a few years after she started working for him and she realized that he was not paying attention to the records. There is no telling how much she really embezzled. By the time she was caught, she had spent the stolen funds and there was little the doctor could recover.
I guess the lesson learned is trust but verify. Take the time to periodically verify and review your records. Everyone is human and the temptation to steal can overcome friendships, loyalty etc.
It's my experience that embezzlement most of the time start small. I have seen it in its various forms over the years....
One of my clients was a doctor with a healthy general practice. He had an office manager that was with him for 15 years......