2009.06.30 20:08:24

John McDaniel

In the first installment on employee theft I gave two tactics for addressing the critical issue of employee theft in the health care practice.  Those tactics were:

• Destroy all signature stamps and vow to never use them again
• Limit check writing authority to the owner(s)

In this blog I will present some additional basic steps that can help reduce your risk of becoming a victim of employee theft.  Keep in mind that each tactic works on its own but is exponentially more effective when paired with an overall strategy employing multiple approaches.

First, let’s discuss the process of preparing and making bank deposits.  Who has the ability to prepare and make deposits in the business?  Ideally, the only person doing this should be the owner.  Believe it or not, in most practices the owner would be able to do this quite easily.  Wanting to take on the additional administrative task is another story, however.  In some cases, this task must be delegated some of the time.  Make sure that is only delegated some of the time.  The risk of theft increases in direct proportion to the number of times you have others take on this duty.  Also, divide up the task between multiple employees.  Make two employees responsible for different parts of the deposit process and have them act as checks and balances on each other.  While this does not guarantee that collusion won’t occur it does decrease the odds significantly as well as increasing the odds of someone getting caught if theft does occur.  Also, create a daily cash report.  This adds an additional layer of protection for cash thefts.

As a hired consultant I get to see funny things happen in the businesses I am hired to help.  It is amazing how often bad behavior is uncovered when a consultant is brought in to the business.  These funny behaviors occur even when the consult has nothing to do with theft prevention and detection.  It is human nature, I guess, to assume that an outside expert will be able to better detect theft than an inside person.  In this case, human nature is correct.  The absolute best way to ferret out any wrong doing is to hire someone to investigate and put policies and procedures in place that are preventative.

What is that you say?  You don’t have several thousand dollars sitting around to do this?  And besides, you are absolutely sure that even though the policies and procedures in your office scream “steal from me” and “my business is a financial sieve”  you “trust” that your dedicated staff isn’t taking your money?  OK, try this – fake hire a consultant.  Announce that the consultant will be reviewing the money procedures because the insurance company is requiring it.  This gives you the opportunity to still be everyone’s friend while shaking the tree a little bit.  Plus this becomes a great time to enact some new policies to prevent theft in the future.

Of course I am going to tell you that actually hiring a consultant is better because it is.  But hiring a fake consultant is a good starting point.  Observe how people react and what changes as a result of the announcement.  Many times guilty parties get out of the way of any investigation that might lead to them getting caught.  If employees suddenly “disappear” it is time to figure out why.  Then you might find the cost of a consultant to be worthwhile.

The next few blog installments will continue with strategies for preventing employee theft.  If you have any questions or comments do not hesitate to enter them below or send me an e-mail.  The questions I get from the blogs, clients, and lectures drive the topics covered in these blogs.

Le Meas,

John G. McDaniel, OD, MLHR
President/Founder
Waugoo Consulting Group, LLC
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