Emergency Management in Australia: Auditing of Post-Disaster Recovery - Research Proposal Example

Crime analysis and investigation Introduction The person who convicted in the financial crime is not a professional offender and his circumstances and financial urgency forced him to commit the crime. Work experience and communication skill play a vital role in a pre planned offence. The man has a rich social and religious status in the society. The man is not interested in committing serious crimes and he never tries to create disturbance for others. Embezzlement and other types of financial fraud require work experience and effective communication skills. Frequent auditing and inspections are relevant methods of investigation. Investigating authorities concentrate the analysis of fake bills and vouchers. Analysis of the crime By analyzing the crime made by the man, Mr. X, one can understand the fact that he is not a born criminal and Mr. X is caught up in a never-before situation of his life. The big problem that is taking his sleep away for the last few days is that he has to obtain an amount of $4000 within two days time to meet one of his repayments which is a must. He is in a position that he cannot get that sum from his friends or assets for the time being because, everybody is facing some sorts of financial problems now a days and that is why he finally zeroes in for a financial crime. “Those who investigate and study financial fraud say the free-falling economy is directly tied to a recent spike in embezzlement cases.” (Economic slump is breeding group for embezzlement, 2009, para.3). Mr. X is the person in charge of the marketing and customer relation of a well to do financial firm. He holds a clean slate as far as his duty is concerned. His forte is his excellent customer relation skills. His finest communication skills, years of experience, hardworking nature, ability to maintain a good rapport with most of the consumers on a personal basis, all make his track record as a marketing executive in the organization excellent so far. His hard work and sincerity for years have helped the firm to increase its profit by extending the business to new areas and customers. There is no wonder that such a person who is a big success in his job scenario is respected highly in the out side world also. Thus it is so obvious that he is a level headed, respectable person who hardly goes for a financial crime and that too against his own organization, on normal terms. “The one, who is always on time, churns out perfect work and is a whiz of a multitasker – this is the profile of a typical embezzler”. (Wood, 2008). This expert opinion holds good for Mr. X too. So finally with no other alternatives available, the person who neither is a born criminal nor a person with any criminal back ground is forced to seek some illegal ways to obtain the needed big sum in a shorter period and that is to defraud his employer. There are three primary motives for a person to embezzle: Need for money, revenge, excitement. (Ezell, 2004, para.4). Here it is very clear that our protagonist is forced to do the ugly deal only to help him from an unavoidable financial crisis. He knows that “it is extremely uncommon for employees to be caught embezzling through direct observation” (What does embezzlement look like in your workplace?, n.d, para.6). But it is also equally important that this type of crime should be performed in a well planned and systematic manner, since the act has to be concealed from all others. He has to adopt a mode of operation that will result in minimum impacts both on him and on his firm. If the act goes out of his hands, that will be the end of his career as well as his life as a reputed social being. He knows that “embezzlement schemes come with stiff penalties and fines for those who have been convicted. These penalties include lengthy jail terms.” (Vassallo, 2010, para.1). At the same time he is not at all interested in a big theft. He is going only for that particular sum which he badly needs in 48 hours and he is sure that he is not going to repeat it ever again in his life. “Usually, sooner or later, the embezzler gets caught. This usually happens when the embezzler becomes greedy.” (Crystal, 2010, para.2). Thus he starts thinking of a plan to grab that money from his firm which can be easily concealed from the employer. Of course there are a lot of methods to steal money from your organization and “In the simplest situation, cash is received and the employee merely pockets it without making a record of the transaction.” (Accounting advice: How to embezzle money: Common ways to embezzle, 2010, para.3).But he cleverly avoids the act of stealing the amount directly from his daily collection since he knows well that all the dealings are under close monitoring of the accounting section. Even though such an act is much easier to perform since he is in full control of his daily collection and the amount of his daily collection is much more than the needed 4000$, he is sure that it will get detected so easily in the same day itself and that would prove to be suicidal. So he has to go for a well thought out plan which can be executed in a methodical way reducing the risk factors involved as much as possible. He knows that some of the customers are having debts to the company since it is part of the company’s fiscal policy that some credits can be given only to few potential customers. Mr. X checks the list of the debtors and finds out some major debtors and from this he prepares a final list of debtors whom he is keeping a very warm relationship with and plans to ask them to pay the due amount. But for this he cannot force the customers which are against the policy of the company. To overcome this, he develops another ploy and in that stage of operation he would tell his target customers that the company is now in urgent need of some additional funds to double its supply and to expand the market strategies and in this context if they pay the due amounts today itself, it would be of great help to the company. But then also a problem arises that some of the customers would not give due care to this and may avoid the remittance. There he scripts another business trick that a 20 percent reduction will be announced for the customers who are willing for an immediate remittance. Most of the customers will fall in this diplomatic and clever approach, he thinks. “Embezzlers usually think that they are clever - smarter than the owner or manager and cunning enough to beat the system.” (Preventing embezzlement precautions, n.d, para.7). When they clear the dues, he will have to give them bills for the payment. Once the crime has been committed, the man’s main attempt is to conceal it. For this many a methods can be utilised. “Falsifying a document, or making misleading journal entries are some of the ways by which an embezzler tries to hide his crime.” (Encyclopedia of Business: Embezzlement, 2010, para.4). Now he has to prepare fake bills and vouchers to give to the customers on their remittance of dues, and these are all not big deals for a person who is having years of experience in customer relationship and billing practices. Moreover, since he is in charge of these sections it is rather easy for him to make some necessary changes and arrangements in the strategies for two days. “The embezzler is usually a trusted employee who is taking advantage of the employers confidence.” (Preventing embezzlement precautions, n.d, para.8). This trick is safer in many ways. The company will not be asking the debtors to clear the dues since in a much competitive business world most of the firms are lesser serious to some amount of debts from their potential customers and Mr. X’s company is also not an exemption to this general trend. Another important factor is that the company is holding its business review on an extended time schedule like only once in six months. He remembers one such embezzlement incident that took place in Australia, where a more vigilant monitoring system fount it out very soon. “Australia Post officers conducted an unannounced audit of the Warrawillah Post Office in 2007 after several customers complained the bills they paid were not going through. The audit revealed a deficiency of $11,000 in the Warrawillah Post Office’s bookkeeping.” (Conviction for marlee store embezzlement, 2008, para.4). But here Mr. X is a very experienced employee of the firm and he knows all the strengths and weaknesses of the organization very well. Moreover, he is keeping a very warm relationship with these customers, thanks to his exceptionally good communication skills and helping attitudes, and so he can assure himself that such complaints from the customers and subsequent sudden monitoring from the authority would not happen in his case. While planning all these strategies, his main confidence lies in the fact that the chance of his company suspecting him for any fraudulent activities is very less since he had already created a very good and reliable image by working hard and sincerely for the company for the last many years. “Studies show that embezzlers are usually long-term employees.” (Articles about embezzlement: Reasons for embezzlement, 2009). In order to safeguard himself from any inevitable flaws, he makes a second plan too. Here he would ask some of the new customers of the company to remit some advance amount for their initial order, much abiding to the company practice and for these payments he will not issue original bills. Keeping this amount with himself and adding it to the previous money he got, he thinks that he can easily tackle his present financial problem for the time being. Before company’s next review meeting, which usually occurs once in six months, he can easily raise some money and settle the account, so that nobody is going to lose in the deal and he can save his face too. “Many of these embezzlers begin to think that what they are doing is justifiable, by telling themselves that they are not stealing.” (Embezzlement: Leading up to embezzlement, 2007, para.7). Now he thinks that he has scripted a financial crime plot which can be performed with lesser flaws, lesser impact on him and on the firm and comparatively easier to operate. For him it looks like a perfect plot. Investigating officers conduct a detailed study about the man Mr. X and analyses his socio-economic backgrounds as an initial step in their investigation. Investigating authorities can understand the fact that the man had kept reliable and healthy relationship with his customers as well as with the management. Implementation of auditing and quality assurance principles and techniques are a widely accepted preventive measure in financial crimes. Auditing of cash bills and vouchers lead the officers to suspect the fake management of Mr. X .The man utilizes his healthy relation with the customers and this becomes a helping link for the officers to find the offence. It is very clear for a reader that the problem of overconfidence negatively affects the execution of this plot. Labadie, John R comments that; “it explores the advantages and pitfalls of incorporating auditing practices into the effective implementation of recovery and reconstruction activities.” (John R, 2008, para.2). The man is not a born criminal and he chooses the way that was very familiar to him. He became careless or his healthy connection with the customers overcomes the realities of auditing and other types of prevention activities. He is conscious about various methods of checking and evaluation procedures but he used customer relation as a powerful weapon to overcome the practical barriers. Investigation officers collected information about the man’s daily activities and his behaviour in office. From the comments of the customer’s, investigating authorities can see that Mr. X was over conscious about his office works and he showed his politeness and sincerity. It is very common that people having criminal backgrounds often show simplicity and perfectness in their behaviour towards others. The process of embezzlement in this case requires familiarity and reliability from the part of the customer as well as the management. Mr. X succeeded in acquiring these two things because of his effective communication skill. David l. Lillehaug rightly comments that “While the employee who appears to be living beyond her means bears watching, perhaps the best indicator of fraud is the employee who fights to protect job responsibilities involving access to money.” (Lillehaug, 2006, para.6). These types of peculiar behavioural changes play a vital role in investigation procedure and various agencies successfully practiced these kinds of behavioural analysis as a part of their investigation. One can also say that customers can identify these behavioural changes and prevent financial crimes in a substantial way. The way the man convinced his clients before the execution became a sufficient piece of information in this particular case. As an employee who is working in marketing field, he analyzed the practical problems. His rationale for the game is brilliant and an ordinary customer cannot suspect the company and their process of increasing supply. His work experience and practical knowledge endowed positive support for his plot. Use of electronic media and computer technology constitute immense progress in different stages of investigation. The man consumed the possibilities of computer technology in making cash bills and other official records. Even though he is free from criminal background he could organize all the things that helped the plot. The online journal entitled Crime Analysis Defined helps the reader to understand more about the process of crime analysis. It states that; “In recent years, improvements in computer technology and the availability of electronic data have facilitated a larger role for spatial analysis in crime analysis.” (Crime analysis defined, 2005, p.3). Awareness about the latest development in technological field contributes maximum support for the convict. One can understand that the man is fully aware about his efficiency in accounting and bill keeping. The book entitled Fraud Examination comments that; “With the advent of computers, the internet, and complex accounting systems , employees now need only to make a telephone call, misdirect purchase program, or simply push a key on the keyboard to misplace company assets” (Fraud Examination, 2009, p.5). Investigating authorities conduct thorough check in cash bills, vouchers, account books and computer hard disc and they could identify the corruption. It also underlines that frequent checking is an essential step in crime prevention. Investigating authorities examined the management and other staff in his company and found that the man had showed his straight forward nature among the colleagues. Implementation of an anti-corruption body is an important step in crime prevention in marketing and other types of financial institutions. Investigation into the case: This crime could be committed by a person who knows every thing related to the procedure of the company. When we consider this crime, the qualities of the person should be analyzed. Mr. X has a good communication skill. So he can convince the customers and employers very well. Since his communication is good, he can logically present the idea. Next quality belonging to him is good management. He played a pivotal role in the marketing strategy of the company. He helped the company to pervade its fame and to have good customer relationship. This made him one of the most loyal persons in the company. He will never be mistaken by others because it is his effort that made the company develop. He is admired by the employers and customers. He is known for providing excellent customer service so there is no possibility to be mistaken by the customers also. Since he is well skilled in marketing, he knows well the problems that are to be faced in marketing and how the money can be drawn without the consent of anyone. The very important fact that encourages him to commit this crime is that he is a very reliable person for the employers and customer. What made him trustworthy is his skill in management, marketing and communication. Communication skill made him please and satisfy the customers. His skill in marketing won the confidence of the company and the skill in management helped him master everything related to the working process of the company. Embezzlement has to be prevented because a lot of mid-size companies are facing this crime. The main method to avoid such crimes is to conduct periodic audits. An employer in the company knows about the periods of audition. If the audition period is very long, the employer can steel the money very easily. He can draw the money for his purpose by assuming that he would be giving back the money just before the next audition. If the audition happens regularly within a small period, there is less chance for embezzlement in the company. The experts and professionals in law and marketing fields often mention that periodic surprise internal audits have reduced financial crimes to a large extent. Frequent periodic auditing and collecting customer’s feedbacks are the “most successful after recognizing high risk areas and designing actions to achieve the desired objectives. It is not uncommon for management to engage a qualified CPA to help them plan the audits and perform the procedures. It is important to note that simply knowing that the organization has a policy of conducting surprise internal audits can act as a deterrent to the would-be embezzler.” (Embezzlement prevention and detection for small and mid-size business and tax exempt organizations, 2009, para.9). One can see that those who work in the accounting session, and in the marketing field, are most caught for embezzlement. The ignorance about the audit session, marketing and customer relation are the encouraging factors for the embezzler. They know each step of the company. So they can transact money according to the movement of the company. There are so many possible ways to increase the cases of embezzlement. They are given below. “Failure to record cash transactions, claims for false reimbursements, use of company accounts for personal transactions, payroll fraud, fraud through supplier accounts and other payables and kickbacks.” (Lillehaug, 2006, para.2). These ways must be avoided to make the employers steal from and cheat their own companies. It is observed that those who are intellectually high are found to be embezzlers. The man was dismissed from his service after the submitting of primary investigation report. He was arrested because of the crime which provides financial support for him. Mr. X’s conscious efforts reveal the diversity of human behaviour in conducting embezzlement and other financial crimes. Conclusion: To conclude, the man in the crime has a conscious effort in committing a serious offence and he has his own justifications. He utilizes his work experience and effective public relation. His offence reveals the fact that a person from marketing and other business field can successfully organize such a crime. It is clear that the man is not a professional offender and his only intention is to overcome his financial crisis. Investigating authorities practices various methods such as frequent auditing, collecting feedback from the customers and intensive checking to identify the crime and those methods can also implement as effective prevention methods. Reference List Accounting advice: How to embezzle money: Common ways to embezzle. (2010). Gaebler. Com: Resources for Entrepreneurs. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.gaebler.com/How-to-Embezzle-Money.htm Articles about embezzlement: Reasons for embezzlement. (2009). ArticleSnatch.com. 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Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=dwRy48iSwD0C&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&dq=embezzlement+in+australian+financial+companies+academic+journals&source=bl&ots=_7Hfas_ZZf&sig=rxh_NHTNlytKR4prqCptSOw7ag&hl=en&ei=5X7qS8D9Io28rAfdkNDnCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q&f=false John R, L. (2008). Emergency management in Australia: Auditing of post-disaster recovery and reconstruction activities: Disaster Prevention and Management: an international journal. Australian Government: Attorney-General’s Department, 17. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.ema.gov.au/www/emaweb/emaweb.nsf/Page/EMALibrary_OnlineResource_NewJournalArticles_JournalArticles-February2009 Lillehaug, D. L. (2006). Employ embezzlement: Prevention, detection and cure. Fredrik Son. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.fredlaw.com/articles/whitecollar/whit_0607_dll.html Preventing embezzlement precautions. (n.d.). Bizamoce.com: Management Resources. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from http://www.bizmove.com/general/m6t1.htm Vassallo, J. (2010). Embezzlement penalties: The penalties and fines for embezzlement schemes. Suite 101.Com. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from htt://www.law.suite101.com/article.cfm/embezzlement-penalties What does embezzlement look like in your workplace? (n.d.). Anonymous Employee. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from http://www.anonymousemployee.com/csssite/sidelinks/embezzlement.php Wood, S. (2008). Confession of an Embezzler – Is your business at risk? Small Business Trends Radio. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from http://www.smbtrendwire.com/2008/02/13/confessions-of-an-embezzler-is-your-business-at-risk/ Read More