The following is a re-post from a blog written by Larry Goldberg - "Accountodontist" at Glass Jacobson.
Last blog I discussed the highly informative DVD by Gordon
Christensen titled “Protecting Your Dental Office From Embezzlement
& Fraud”. I mentioned many, but not nearly all, of the things you
as a dentist could do to prevent one of your employees from embezzling
your hard earned money.
This blog looks at some of the characteristics of the employee who
might be stealing right under your nose. Dr. Christensen mentions going
with your gut feeling. If you suspect someone is up to something
dishonest you may want to follow up on your suspicion.
Some of the more general identifying characteristics such as you, the
dentist, working as hard as ever and cash deposits that have declined
may be hard to differentiate as stealing or a drop off in business due
to the current economic climate. Others such as a large number of
adjustments showing up in your dental software merit close inspection.
As Dr. Christensen mentions, many of the characteristics that make a
good employee are some of the same characteristics that are the earmark
of the employee who’s taking you to the bank so to speak. Here are just
a few.
- Employee wants additional hours
- Employee wants to work alone and will not delegate tasks
- Employee is very loyal
- Employee resents your lifestyle or apparent income
- Employee works late or comes in early
- Employee takes work home
- Employee refuses to take vacation
- Employee with lots of discretionary income. Get suspicious if your single employee making $25,000 per year is driving a brand new Mercedes and has a five bedroom house with a pool and tennis court and does not have a large trust fund.
- Employee is a long-term employee. Why would they want to leave your dental practice since you are their personal ATM machine?
- Employee does not want overtime
So what are you supposed to do now? Do you instantly start
suspecting each and every one of your employees of being a clandestine
thief? Of course not! However, armed with the information from this
and the previous accountadontist blog you should realize that you cannot
just be a passive observer in your dental practice. You need to get
involved in many of the business aspects of your dental practice that
you previously ignored. YOUR money is at stake!
If you suspect fraud in your practice, or want to set up preventative measures, contact us. Glass Jacobson’s fraud prevention team can help.
Questions for the Accountodontist?
