Guard Against Theft
Put a stop to pilfering, theft, and misappropriation

Misuse of university resources by employees, customers, vendors, or others outside of the organization.

Examples of fraud include:

  • Fraudulent travel and entertainment (T&E) reports, inappropriate p-card expenditures, theft of university property, false time reporting, and undisclosed conflict of interest.

Prevent

  • Develop strong internal controls to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.
  • Set the tone from the top. Management should set appropriate ethical examples for employees.
  • Set up written policies and procedures for employees to follow and ensure that they are regularly reviewed.
  • Provide training and communications to ensure that every employee is aware of what constitutes a fraudulent activity and what the consequences are.
  • Ensure employees know what to do if they suspect fraud and where to report it.

Detect

  • Carry out inventory counts on a regular basis and verify against the asset registry.
  • Review purchases for trend analysis and investigate irregularities.
  • Perform a three-way match of invoice, purchase order and receiving report to ensure the organization is paying for correct and legitimate purchases.
  • Secure access to physical equipment.
  • Consider separating ordering from receiving and management of supplies to increase the number of touchpoints.
  • Consider locked storage and regular inventory counts for expensive supplies
  • Limit high cost product ordering to no more than two items, one for use and one for backup.
  • Review BearBuy reports to determine if expenses are appropriate for those that have by-passed approval process.
  • Review and have a robust approval process for any changes to bank account and routing numbers. An example would be:
    • Prior to making bank account changes, a call should be made to the vendor to substantiate both the old bank account and routing number and the new bank account and routing number. Retain and review supporting documentation.
  • Implement a control - reviewing budget to actual and investigating variances.
  • Segregate cash handling functions to different individuals: authorization, recording, and custody.

Inform

If you suspect fraudulent activity leading to the theft of assets or information: