Flu Shot or Not?

Have you gotten your flu shot yet? It is that time of year. Sure, your arm will be sore for a few days, but isn’t that upfront pain worth it? The alternative is you might catch the flu, feel horrible, lose weight, miss work, and worst of all, die from its complications. Well, some may argue that losing weight and missing work may be worth the risk. But, if you’ve ever had the flu, I think you’ll agree that it can knock you out of commission for at least a week and the residual effects can last much longer. If you don’t get the shot, there’s still a chance you won’t catch the flu. And, getting the flu shot doesn’t provide a 100% guarantee that you won’t catch it. There are risks either way. The risk of fraud is similar. 

We can all agree that the flu is bad. Fraud is too. It is a disease that plagues our society, organizations, and personal lives. We can also agree that if left unchecked, fraud can take away things that we value. It can be a drain on our money, time and emotional energy. The impact can be so severe in some cases that a company must close or a person may commit suicide. Every case is serious and the losses can be devastating.

Unlike the flu, there isn’t a shot or vaccine that will prevent fraud in our organization. There isn’t a doctor who can prescribe a miracle drug to ease the side effects caused by the fraud.

Here are a few helpful hints to address fraud within your organization. Following these is sort of like getting your flu shot.

• Key decision makers must recognize that fraud is a risk to the organization and that its impact is real. Fraud is everywhere and to think that your organization is immune from it is naïve. Additionally, the financial losses can be staggering, but all the other consequences can have an even greater impact on the organization.
• Build a fraud fighting culture. Culture is the fuel that drives an organization. It is important to build a culture that supports the reporting of fraud or other inappropriate behavior. Employees should not be fearful of negative consequences if they report something suspicious. For organizations that want be more progressive, employees should be positively recognized through monetary reward programs for reporting suspected fraud.
• Enhance anti-fraud controls within the organization. Most decision makers understand the importance of controls, but there are many organizations that fail to implement or manage them properly. This usually happens because the controls get in the way of day-to-day business operations. Fraud happens when a potential fraudster observes and exploits a control weakness. This is easier than you may think. With a bit of planning and resources, an organization can develop and implement a few fraud fighting controls that can be performed periodically to mitigate fraud losses.

Get your flu shot and implement strategies to mitigate fraud within your organization. You could save someone’s life.

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