The need for organisations to review their payroll procedures, whether their payroll is delivered in-house or an outsourced provider, has been highlighted by an employee working within the payroll department of a large delivery company. The employee managed to defraud the company of £300,000.
So, how was this achieved? Well, the employee somehow managed to duplicate redundancy payments while working in the payroll department. The payments that were made to the employees being made redundant were also paid into eight personal bank accounts.
The case took two years to investigate and the perpetrator, Michael McDonough, is now serving 32 months in prison.
The need for organisations to protect themselves from both internal and external breaches of data security is becoming a painful reality for some. This latest breach affected Yodel whilst there have been other data breaches and theft at Morrisons the supermarket chain to Carphone Warehouse.
As all companies hold sensitive and personal information on their staff and their client’s protection and having stringent procedures in place is key. A company can ill afford that sensitive data be it on their employees or clients fall into the wrong hands or that the security measures are easily breached, or that information has been released inadvertently and as a result of poor training and inadequate data awareness.
Comment
Is it time for companies to vet employees or potential outsourcing companies for financial viability? Will this ensure no further breaches of data or attempts to defraud? Initial checks of such individuals and companies may prove to be okay, but who knows what pressures may be brought to bear that would entice someone to commit a fraud or steal sensitive data.
