We’ll be at Compliance Week National 2024 in Washington, D.C., April 2-4. Learn more or schedule a time to meet with us at the show here.

Lead by Example and Continuous Improvement


Lead by Example and Continuous Improvement

Chapter 4: Detecting and Preventing Employee Theft

Posted by Dawn Lomer on July 25th, 2011

Chapter 1: Smart Hiring, Training and Education, Establish a Reporting System

Chapter 2: Positive Work Environment and Internal Security Policies

Chapter 3: Audits, Pay Attention to Change, Investigate ALL Tips

Chapter 4: Lead by Example and Continuous Improvement

9. Lead by Example

To prevent fraud and theft, everyone in the organization needs to be on board. Leadership needs to make it clear to employees that theft and fraud isn’t permitted. Policies need to be backed up with training but, most importantly, they need to be backed up by the actions of those at the top. Employees need to believe that management is serious about preventing fraud and theft, which means that everyone should be held to the same standards regardless of job title.

10. Continuous Improvement

Management should be always looking for ways to improve policies and procedures. Fraud prevention is an ongoing, dynamic process that requires continuous evaluation and improvement.

Stay up-to-date on changes made to financial and accounting laws and regulations. Integrate these changes into company policies and employee training. Develop a training schedule in order to train new employees, as well as provide training to present employees, to continue demonstrating your commitment to an honest, open workplace. Communicate regularly with employees and stick to audit plans. If you make changes, cancel or cutback on any of the established control measures, employees will notice and it could send the message that you have lost your focus on the prevention of workplace theft and fraud.


Dawn Lomer
Dawn Lomer

Manager of Communications

Dawn Lomer is the Manager of Communications at i-Sight (now Case IQ) Software and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). She writes about topics related to workplace investigations, ethics and compliance, data security and e-discovery, and hosts i-Sight (now Case IQ) webinars.