Embezzlement and fraud can cripple a company. Often committed by trusted long time employees, it is essential to catch it early.

Embezzlement and fraud investigations are critical to maintaining a healthy workplace environment. Due to a large volume of funds lost every year to this type of fraud, corporate investigations cantering on this can prove very rewarding in the long run. These problems are very complex and run very deep in the company. They can often be attributed to corrupt employees deep within the company’s workforce. They are intricate and need to be solved with a lot of care. Generally, they occur when people entrusted with fiduciary responsibilities misuse the trust to wrongly acquire company funds for personal or other uses.

Who Embezzles And Why

This is a very challenging aspect of embezzlement. Though hard to accept, it is often seen that people embezzling funds are trusted employees who have been working for many years at the firm or company. They usually embezzle because they have a sudden need for cash. Many others simply embezzle small amounts over time just because they can. Everyone needs money and no amount is ever enough. Also, higher ranking officials are often more likely to embezzle money because they can easily work independently and usually have access to a large amount of company funds.

Common Types Of Embezzlement

Embezzlement and fraud can be of many types. A majority of the times, the targeted funds are cash. These are easy to swipe and many employees get tempted to steal a few bucks every now and then. Also, asset misappropriations run rampant in the world of corporate fraud. Asset misappropriations, as the name suggests, refer to incorrect usage of assets by the person entrusted with the disbursal of those assets. This just refers to the employees who steal from company funds that they are supposed to manage. Fraudulent statements are also becoming increasingly common. Here, individuals generate false invoices for purchases that were never made and pocket the money listed on the invoices.

How To Check For Fraud

Many times, in large companies, fraud is not immediately obvious. They take some time to be noticed by other people at the company. However, making an effort to understand how embezzlers steal money and commit fraud can help one spot the signs and be prepared in time. Some common occurrences in case of embezzlement and fraud are receiving past due notices for bills that were supposed to have been paid on time, sudden increase in payments to a particular client or employee or an unusually large bank withdrawal. These are often indicators of fraud and should be caught in time.

How Private Detectives Can Help

Private investigators can easily pore through all the financial documents of your company. They can then make a detailed assessment of the money being earned and spent by your company. Any irregularities are further investigated by them to check for fraud and embezzlement. Private Investigators UK has an experienced corporate investigations team which has caught many an embezzler saving our clients a lot of money.  We typically use detailed data analytics and accounting forensics to catch fraud and have a high success rate.