An employee stealing from a business is not a small matter. In fact, employee theft can sometimes devastate a company. As Chron explains, one-third of business bankruptcies happen because employees stole from the business. One way employee theft occurs is when workers steal cash from the business.
There are many different kinds of cash theft. Sometimes fraudsters hide their tracks so well that business managers do not know fraud is taking place until the business is in serious trouble.
Skimming cash
Skimming takes place when an employee receives money from customers or clients but does not pass the money on to a cash register or wherever the business stores cash. Instead, the employee pockets the money. The employee might not even create a receipt for the purchase. Because there is no receipt, the business has no record of the purchase, so supervisors do not know there is money missing.
Cash larceny
Some fraudsters steal cash after recording the purchase in the company books. The law calls this kind of theft cash larceny. This can happen by simply removing cash from a register, but it can also take other forms like changing the register tape. Sometimes an employee will cover up theft by depositing money into the company account by writing a check from another account.
Steps to prevent cash theft
Companies can put in place a variety of methods to stop cash theft from occurring. A surveillance system can monitor employee actions. A business can separate the duties of workers so that no one person has sole responsibility for completing a transaction and depositing cash. Supervisors can regularly audit financial records to look for unusual transactions and fluctuations.
People accused of a white-collar crime like cast theft are not always actual criminals, but sometimes people the business wishes to scapegoat for a loss. Putting responsible checks and balances in place can help prevent the wrong person from experiencing a prosecution for a crime.
