how to prevent embezzlement
theft and embezzlement cost companies approximately 400 billion per year and account for more than 50 of business failures 1 however employers can develop strategies to combat these white collar crimes embezzlement starts with the breach of trust of a person endowed with the authority to care for the property or money of another reasonably one of the first steps an employer can take is to carefully vet prospective employees in addition to conducting thorough background checks assessing character traits via personality tests could reveal undesirable behaviors a security and monitoring program could also deter corporate crime especially when performed by a dedicated risk management team or an independent third party these risk managers can create internal controls that monitor behaviors and allow for the anonymous reporting of suspicious activities as well as conduct periodic audits that expose misappropriations early detection helps to mitigate losses and protect the company s reputation and the people it serves employers should make clear that they have a no tolerance policy regarding illegal acts such as embezzling and communicate the consequences of such violations every company should promote a culture of honesty and fairness encouraging its employees to remain vigilant and report instances of wrongdoing 