Jeffery T. Henson, also known as Matthew Burns, who used a stolen identity to get a job as comptroller of Watchfire Signs has been sentenced to 8.5 years of prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for wire fraud, identity theft and money laundering.  He has also been ordered to pay $436,000 in restitution to Watchfire and $2 million to a previous Chicago area employer.

Fraud can happen to any out of home company.  Here’s Billboard Insider’s advice on protecting your company from employee fraud:

• Have your financial statements audited each year.  The CPA firm conducting the audit will directly sample accounts receivables and accounts payables to confirm balances.  It’s extremely difficult to fool a good CPA firm.
• Write checks yourself and originate wires and eft’s yourself.  This works for a small company but may not be feasible for a larger company.
• Review accounts receivable credits, refunds and adjustments for suspicious activity.
• Require each employee to take at least two consecutive weeks off each year.  Frauds fall apart when someone isn’t in the office to keep the fraud covered up.
• Have one employee make deposits and another employee handle the accounting.  Also require two signatures or two approval for a transaction over a certain amount.  It’s hard to hide a fraud whem multiple people are involved.
• Periodically ask to see all of the checks and eft’s which your company writes or originates each month.  An unscrupulous employee will be less likely to try something if they know you occasionally check.
• Know who you hire.  Call references.  Check pictures against ID’s and search online databases to avoid hiring someone with a stolen identity.

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