PAYROLL FRAUD EXPOSED

It is often impossible for company management to know every employee and their pay status. Furthermore, a non-robust payroll processes can often make it possible for false payments to be made. Common payroll fraud schemes include, among others, payments to: Nonexistent employees (“ghost” employees) added to the company payroll by someone with the authority to add new employees. Employees for hours not worked (falsified time reports). Employees for unauthorized salary/pay rates, overtime, or bonuses. Payroll fraud may involve collusion between employees (e.g., between the employee who receives the fraudulent pay and an “insider” with the ability to facilitate the payment). The incidence of Chris Palmer would be difficult to forget (Names has changed) Chris was responsible for updating employee data in the system (e.g., change of address, change in employee status). The HR database maintained by Chris fed into other company information systems, including the payroll system. When a salaried employee resigned from the company, Chris would defer changing that employee's status to “inactive” for a week or more after the employee's last day of work. The company payroll system would automatically compute wages due the former salaried employee for every day that the employee remained “active” in the system. Prior to each subsequent payday, Chris would temporarily change the address shown for the former employee to an address that Chris controlled, e.g., a mail drop. After the system issued a pays lip, Chris would change the former employee's address back to the original. Chris would make sure that the former employee status was reflected as inactive when he felt it necessary to “end” the scheme. In the rare circumstance when anyone questioned these payments, Chris was prepared with phony documentation indicating a payment had been made to the former employee in error and that collection action was being initiated to recover the overpayment. Chris continued to carry out this nefarious activities for 3 Years, until, a thorough audit conducted in 2018 reveal the discrepancy. Timesheet Fraud When a worker "punches in" for one more employee, they both commit timesheet fraud. Personnel who inflate the their working hours on timesheets are committing timesheet fraud. Though this type of fraud isn't just committed by employees on the own. A payroll officer or maybe director also can commit timesheet fraud by inflating the working hours on another employee's timesheet or even changing the speed of pay and subsequently transferring the additional cash to his or perhaps the personal bank account of her prior to issuing the employee's pay. There are many efficient methods to stop as well as identify timesheet fraud and they almost all center around controls: and auditing What can be done? CONTROLS TO MITIGATE PAYROLL FRAUD Use electronic timesheets to eradicate the chance for a worker to change info after they're submitted. Have supervisors approve timesheets before they're posted to payroll. Ensure that timesheets be finished as well as published on schedule to stay away from delays and after that a manager might not recall the time an employee worked. Agenda regular audits by someone outside of the division to evaluate timesheets to work schedules to identify anomalies. Call for a supervisor's endorsement for just about any alterations to employee pay rates or perhaps employee kinds. Use data analytics to identify anomalies in pay captures. Compare pay information with payroll budget to spot inconsistencies. Eliminating payroll fraud not just increases your income and cash flow but also ensures that your business is being run very well and the employees are trustworthy. Every single action you are taking to eradicate payroll fraud will certainly increase the value of your company while simultaneously making you to rest much better at night.