We are looking at employee fraud and the identification of the fraud and the classifications. In this case, we are looking at an employee who first paid for a family meal with a company credit card and then submitted the receipt for reimbursement of his business expenses. In my opinion this behavior is fraud. First, the company has already paid for these meals with the co-worker’s family by the employee using his corporate credit card to pay for these meals. The amount of the receipt has no bearing on whether the actions of the co-worker is considered fraud. When you think about all the stories of employee’s embezzling funds from their employer, they will start with small amounts that are barely noticeable and without proper internal controls, these amounts can go unnoticed for years before they are caught. In determining that the behavior is fraudulent, it is our responsibility to report the fraud to upper management, first, because this type of behavior could have been going on for months or years because someone was afraid to report it or they lacked the ethical responsibility to their employer to report it. In the scenario provided, the employee was confronted by the other party who witnessed the expense fraud. At which point the employee claimed it was an error and he did not realize what he had done. The question here is: Was this an error or Fraud?
Fraud is defined as “a generic term, and embraces all the multifarious means which human ingenuity can devise, which are resorted to by one individual” (Albrecht, Albrecht, Albrecht & Zimbelman, 2012, P 6). Errors on the other hand are misinterpretations or mistakes. In the scenario we were provided, I would have to say there was fraud that took place and the employee did not simply make an error in his expense reporting. It is said “there are six symptoms related to employee fraud” (Cottrell