Anonymous Fraud Reporting Can Be First Line of Defense

Anonymous Fraud Reporting Can Be First Line of Defense

Anonymous Fraud Reporting Can Be First Line of Defense

Rea & Associates Offers Tip Line to Combat Employee Fraud

Columbus, Ohio - What if the employee next to you is stealing inventory, performing unusual billing or collection practices, falsifying payroll or expense reports or making unauthorized purchases on the company credit card? Would you report what you know?

The forensic accounting team at Rea & Associates, Inc. has established Fraud STOPline, a fraud hotline designed to help make that question easier to answer. This 24 hour per day, seven day per week, 365 day per year hotline allows businesses and their employees, vendors and customers to safely and anonymously report suspicions of fraud.

"Being alerted to possible complaints lets a business address and resolve the issue before it becomes overly disruptive and expensive," says Heinz Ickert, CPA, CFE, CFF, CVA, CM&AA, shareholder and director of the firm's forensic accounting practice.

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner's 2008 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse, small businesses suffer an average of $200,000 in losses from each fraud scheme. Less than 10 percent of the businesses have anonymous fraud reporting systems in place. "With nearly half of initial reports coming from tips, this is the leading method for fraud detection," says Ickert. "Rea's Fraud STOPline was created for this reason."

The report further notes companies that subscribe to a fraud hotline typically cut their fraud losses by about 60 percent per scheme. In fact, the median lost to fraud for a hotline subscriber is $100,000, while the median loss for non-subscribers is $260,000.

"And since a tip line is a safe, anonymous place to easily report suspected fraud, employees don't have to be afraid of the repercussions of turning in a co-worker or supervisor. The tip line is also a place where customers and even vendors may provide valuable clues," Ickert says.

An anonymous tip line like the Fraud STOPline may benefit your business if you:

·experienced fraud in the past.

·have seen inventory shrinkage.

·don't perform background checks on new employees.

·have one employee handling multiple financial functions.

·don't strong internal controls in place.

For additional information, please call 614-464-3343 or 1-888-427-2227 (toll-free) or visit www.FraudSTOPline.com.