 "She
was a sunny small town gal — the very picture of
trustworthiness," recalls a Brampton FP of his practice's
recently-fired office manager. "Boy were we surprised
when we found out she'd been swindling us out of thousands."
This physician and his partners just learned the hard
way that medical practices aren't immune to employee
theft and fraud. In their case, their brazen office
manager was using the corporate credit card to buy extra
supplies, which she would later resell, pocketing the
profits. She was able to keep this scam going for about
two years mostly because she was buying things the practice
actually used — albeit in excess quantities. It
was only when she got reckless and started charging
things like pricey Mont Blanc pens on the practice Visa
that red flags were raised.
Though staff thievery and fraud
isn't typically as spectacular as the above case, it's
still a problem for many Canadian practices. In fact,
there's a pretty good chance your staffers are stealing
from you. In most cases it's minor stuff like postage
stamps or the odd pen but it's not uncommon for dishonest
staffers to give themselves 'five finger discounts'
on bigger prizes like printer toner cartridges or drugs
from the practice's supply cabinet.
Here are some tips on protecting
your practice from inside jobs:
Check for skeletons in their
closets: Criminal background checks are cheap ($25)
and easy to obtain. The only downside is that it typically
takes several months for the RCMP to process them so
it makes sense to have new employees under probation
for at least that long. More information is available
at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/crimrec/finger_e.htm
Credit checks: Most provinces
generally allow business owners to check potential employees'
credit histories. Look out for fraudulent transactions
that didn't show up in the criminal background check.
You can order the credit reports at TransUnion (www.tuc.ca)
and Equifax (www.equifax.ca).
Bonding employees: After
employees pass the criminal background check you should
speak to your insurance broker about bonding packages.
It's not very expensive to have all your employees bonded
and a good policy can offer your practice great protection
against theft and fraud.
Put it in writing: Your
employee handbook should explicitly state that practice
property — everything from reams of paper to pharmaceutical
samples — stays within the office walls. Any violation
of this policy should be considered theft.
 Do
spot checks: You should get in the habit of looking
over the books. At the very least look over the practice's
credit card statement and flag any purchases that look
fishy.
Get the most out of that accountant:
If you're not very well-versed in the minutiae of book-keeping,
it may be tempting to just let your accountant watch
over the practice's finances for you. But that's never
a good idea, as he or she is apt to miss suspicious
expenditures. Have the accountant regularly prepare
plain-English summaries of the practice's finances so
you can quickly give the books the once-over.
Be aware that power corrupts:
Statistics show that fraud is most likely to be committed
by veteran employees who know an office's systems inside
and out. Bearing that in mind, it's always a good idea
to divide financial privileges among staff. Even the
slickest and most crooked employee will think twice
about scamming the practice if they know that someone
else will be going through the books.
Set the example: Don't think
that employees won't notice if you filch a can of coffee
or some paper from the office. Even though it was your
money that bought those supplies, helping yourself to
practice property goodies gives an impression of laxity.
Your staffers should know that the practice is a business.
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