A not-for-profit organization’s controller had check-signing responsibility as well as access to the organization’s checking account. During his employment, the employee set up a fictitious firm that allegedly provided financial services to the organization. The loss wasn’t discovered until after the employee had left the organization and was caught doing the same thing to his next employer, at Continue Reading …

An ammonia-cooling coil in the hospital cafeteria’s walk-in freezer failed and released ammonia gas. A month’s worth of food supply was contaminated. Total Cost: $500,000.

A charitable organization collected used automobiles and appliances for distribution to the poor. A warehouse worker, the nephew of the veteran warehouse manager, arranged to have deliveries of the used autos and appliances made to a friend, and the three would sell the autos at discounted rates to used car dealers and the appliances to pawn brokers. The Continue Reading …

A local Goodwill-like store had a “no questions asked” return policy, whereby customers could return unwanted or faulty merchandise without a sales receipt. The policy was popular among customers and helped the store gain considerable word-of-mouth advertising. The store’s bookkeeper, a long-time employee, took advantage of the policy by systematically altering the books to show “dummy” returns and Continue Reading …