How might the management of Jos-Tech have prevented an employee from stealing almost $500,000?

Victoria A. Ladd, 51, was employed by Jos-Tech, Inc., a custom plastics fabricating company located in Kent, Ohio, for many years. From January 2013 until January 2018, she wrote several checks to herself and cashed them or deposited them into her personal accounts. She also authorized electronic payments from Jos-Tech’s bank accounts to pay off her personal VISA and Mastercard charges. The checks and electronic payments she directed to accounts to benefit herself or cashed totaled approximately $490,462 over a five-year period.

Ladd pleaded guilty to bank fraud in a plea agreement dated November 18, 2019, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Case No. 5:19 CR 655). She is free on bond, awaiting sentencing in March 2020.

Questions

1. List as many job duties of Victoria Ladd that you can surmise from the story.
2. Classify the job duties you listed into one of these three categories: asset handling; record keeping; and transaction approval.
3. How might the management at Jos-Tech have prevented Ladd’s fraud scheme?

Copyright 2020 Wendy M. Tietz, LLC