Personnel and financial theft in times of crisis. The main methods and means of financial theft at the enterprise Fiscal for identifying thefts at enterprises

Many enterprises have problems with theft and unreliability of employees. Neither the information nor the material assets of the organization are protected from misuse and, unfortunately, are not insured against theft in the company: how to deal with theft- a problem that worries all bosses.

Employees of any age, any nationality are less or more susceptible to this flaw. Today, more and more anti-theft systems are being created and they are being improved every day. Almost every large organization includes a security service on its staff. But no one can give a 100% guarantee of the reliability of employees. Minimizing losses is all that experts can promise.

Enterprise risks and employee unreliability

Misuse of the time of your employees and your working time. Many people start their working day with a cup of coffee and a smoke break. For the sluggish employee, the modern office provides many opportunities to imitate hectic activity. You can exchange gossip without looking up from the monitor, browse sites that are completely unrelated to work or just for fun. computer game kill working time.

Petty theft of company resources, consumables, and office supplies. On the one hand, it seems like little things. Such losses on the scale of a large organization can result in a huge amount. This category also includes telephone conversations at the expense of the company, the use of Internet traffic and office equipment of the company for one’s own purposes.

Accountable funds scam. Using company money, inflating amounts in reporting documents for an “interest-free loan” for one’s own needs through late submission of unspent amounts and reports.

"Leftist". Carrying out private orders using the employer’s equipment, machines, materials, often during working hours.

Illegal use of bonuses, discounts, discounts. Theft of gifts for clients and customers is quite common. The reason for this theft in the company is that accounting is poorly organized material assets, so it is difficult to control whether the client (buyer) received his gift or not.

Theft in a simple sense. The schemes, tricks, methods, and means that inventive employees use are very diverse. They can steal finished products, parts, raw materials from factories and factories; products in canteens, restaurants and cafes; in stores goods from warehouse.

Abuse of your official position. Managers take advantage of their position to steal the customer base; provide unreasonable discounts; they ship the goods to “their” buyer; purchasing products at increased prices for a kickback or bribe.

Industrial espionage. Selling to a competing company information that is considered a trade secret of the enterprise. As a rule, the purpose of such espionage is the customer base, know-how, recipes and technologies, marketing strategies and prices, information about key employees and valuable specialists, the financial situation of a competitor, plans for the future. Theft in a company industrial espionage reduces the competitiveness and profit of a company, and this can ruin the entire business.

Reasons for theft in the workplace

It would seem that preventing theft in the workplace is simple - do not hire criminals and mentally ill people, and satisfy the needs of other employees with a decent salary. But, alas, like all universal methods, this does not provide a 100% guarantee. Needs are growing, psychological and social attitudes vary from person to person and from one social group to another. groups to another.

With the help of theft, a person satisfies not only personal financial needs. For example, an employee can thus assert himself, satisfy his ambitions, compensating for dissatisfaction with his career or social position, or the lack of recognition of his merits from management or others. In this case, the thief evaluates the result of his activities not as receiving material benefits, but as a type of successful operation, a successful and risky enterprise, which puts him on the same level as recognized and successful people in society.

The incentive to steal can be hidden aggression, causing harm, or the desire to take revenge on an offender, imaginary or real. Informal traditions existing in a team can contribute to the manifestation of hidden tendencies towards theft, but also instill them in a new employee. If petty theft in a company flourishes, then the new employee will be faced with a choice: either look for a new job, or fight against collective attitudes, or do like everyone else.

Psychological factors that contribute to theft at work

An example of an informal leader or manager. The leader sets the rules of the game. Assessing his commitment, decency, and actions, the staff forms their own line of behavior and sets acceptable limits. Naturally, a manager who steals himself can hardly hope for the honest behavior of his employees. In addition, it is important how the boss fulfills his responsibilities to the staff. An unmotivated reduction or delay in wages is a provocation of theft by employees.

Lack of corporate culture. A team in which everyone is unlikely to be able to prevent the actions of a thief for himself. A strong culture requires a strong leader, the highest level of organizational values, and as a result, strictness towards all illegal actions.

Negative psychological climate. Employees who are constantly busy with intrigue, gossip and squabbles - this is a favorable environment for a potential embezzler. In this case, on the one hand, less attention is paid to the work itself, on the other hand, many compensate for their psychological problems with financial gains.

Lack of loyalty among employees to the company. If an employee does not value his belonging to the team, does not value his work in this organization, then he will not strive to take care of “state” property.

Weak motivation. Below market wages? In order to raise my income to the required level, I will steal. There are no incentive bonuses - the employee will either reward himself or there will be no achievements.

Weak control and accounting of the use and storage of funds and material assets. Impunity comes from lack of control. It’s as if there is no crime, because there is no information about how much and what was missing.

These factors, as a rule, act simultaneously, “feeding” each other. As a result, the employer has to take difficult measures - completely change the team within a short time. There are cases when such “rotation” is repeated periodically and becomes part of the system. Then the cause of the problems must be sought in weak management, which is not able to create a system for preventing theft, build full-fledged working relationships within the team, and organize a corporate culture.

Development of a local regulatory framework. All rules must be spelled out in a special document, and each employee must familiarize themselves with them. It is necessary to work out work regulations, job descriptions, a system of material and individual responsibility in order to protect the company from any fraud.

Creation of a control and accounting system. Nothing resists theft more than understanding the inevitability of its detection and subsequent corresponding punishment. For example, the boss must at any time have access to information about the quantity of products at all levels of its movement in order to organize a sudden unscheduled inspection at any time.

Checking the details of a new employee. Documents provided upon employment, as well as recommendations from previous places of employment, need to be verified. Be sure to take into account the tendency to gamble, bad habits etc.

Motivation for staff responsibility. Material compensation, of course, must be competitive and sufficient. In addition, the employee must be sure that his successes will be welcomed and assessed properly.

Disclosure and harsh suppression of the situation with theft. Information that theft has been detected must be made public within the team. If possible, quickly get rid of employees who are caught stealing. No discounts or exceptions can be made. If your company has an anti-theft rule, then it must be strictly followed.

In conclusion of the article “ How to deal with theft“I would like to say about the need to comply with ethical requirements when working with personnel. Under no circumstances should you offend an honest worker by opposing thieves. A trustworthy employee is your support; value and appreciate his attitude towards the team and the common cause.

Main areas of work: sewing and repairing clothes. Activities are carried out on the basis of orders from the population and other institutions: kindergartens, schools, libraries, etc. (for example, sewing curtains for the library reading room).

The company consists of: a director, combining administrative management with the supply function (search for materials, printed sewing publications reflecting fashion trends, purchasing accessories, etc.), an accountant, 4 seamstresses, a cutter, and a cleaner.

Equipment for work: the main equipment (without detailing down to each pin) should include:

• 2 sewing machines from PFAFF;
• 2 sewing machines from Huscwarna;
• 1 Brother overlocker;
• cutter's table;
• 2 Tefal irons;
• 2 ironing boards.

It should be noted that in this type of activity, the quality of equipment and the number of operations performed on it are closely related to the quality of tailoring and, therefore, have a significant impact on the number of orders.

Office space is rented from the city administration. It should be noted that the city is small, with a population of about 40,000 people.

The main risks associated with this activity:

1. Risk of poor quality work (refers to business risks):

• associated with incorrect cutting. In this case, nothing can be corrected, the material can only be thrown away, and its cost can be included in the “Losses” item;
• risk associated with poor-quality tailoring (for example, a pocket is sewn in the wrong place, stitching is gathered). In most cases, it can be corrected (exceptions include leather products, after working with which holes remain at the site of the ripped seam), but then there is a risk that the work will not be delivered on time.

2. Risk of unqualified personnel selection.

3. The risk associated with theft of equipment (refers to business risk).

4. Risk associated with equipment failure (business risk).

5. Refusal of the customer to pay for the product (relates to a commercial risk). In practice this rarely happens. Sometimes situations arise where payment for an order is delayed.

6. Risk associated with an increase in the dollar exchange rate. Since spare parts for equipment are valued in foreign currency, the cost of repairs increases with the increase in the dollar exchange rate (operational currency risk).

Types of threats:

1. A significant increase in rent on the part of the administration (business risk).

2. Deterioration in the living standards of the population, which will affect all types of business activities, including the clothing industry. This will lead to a decrease in demand for tailoring (commercial risk).

3. Internal man-made threats, which include fires and accidents from improper handling of electrical appliances (overlocker, iron, sewing machines), failure to comply with their technical conditions, fire of wiring, etc. (entrepreneurial risk).

It should be noted that according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the entrepreneur is liable to the customer regardless of whether the damage was caused by his fault or by the fault of third parties or circumstances.

4. The threat of power outages, which is especially important for a small town in winter. In this case, the risk associated with failure to complete the order on time (business risk) again appears.

5. Social internal threats, which include strikes associated with improper distribution of material resources from completed orders.

6. Threats associated with competition. This is possible if a competing enterprise opens in a more convenient location for residents (for example, in the city center), has more highly qualified personnel, better equipment (or newer) and more low prices.

7. An internal threat of a physical nature, namely: a large number of simultaneously operating sewing equipment creates a high level of noise, which leads to deterioration in the health of working personnel (environmental risk).

The risks are shown in Fig. 1.

Risks that are not included in this enterprise model:

1. Investment risks, since the company does not have an investment policy.

2. Credit risks, since the company does not engage in lending. At some moments it is necessary cash for the purchase of raw materials are taken from the enterprise’s cash desk, or these are the personal funds of the director who is responsible for administrative functions.

3. Technical risks, since there are no construction sites.

4. Some types of financial risks: interest, portfolio.

5. Country risks, since the activities are not carried out on the territory of foreign countries.

6. Political risks, which are a type of country risks.

Rice. 1. Types of risks in a sewing enterprise

Documents required for drawing up the questionnaire. Type of questionnaire. Flow map

Highlight two stages of risk identification:

1. Collection of information about the structure of the object.

2. Identifying hazards.

The appendix presents a questionnaire developed on the basis of a standard questionnaire according to N.V. Khokhlov.

Documents required for drawing up the questionnaire:

• balance sheet;
• statement of financial results (profits and losses);
• data on accounting of fixed assets;
• constituent documents;
• internal accounting documents;
• personal cards of employees;
• data from other forms of financial statements.

The flow map of a sewing enterprise (Fig. 2) shows that the greatest damage to work can be caused by a failure in the purchase of materials at the very beginning of the production cycle. There are no parallel branches of production, which makes it impossible to minimize losses in the event of failure of one production chain. There is no supply risk in this facility. This happens because the necessary raw materials are purchased for cash and brought in the director’s personal car. In this case, the company, as it were, “rents” a vehicle.

Rice. 2. Flow map

Calculations of identified risks for the selected type of business activity

1. Statistics show that internal man-made risks (fires and accidents from improper handling of electrical appliances) occur on average 2 times a year. Then the damage from their occurrence is determined as the product of the value of the property (C) located in the disaster zone by the damage factor (Y). Not counting the cost of office renovations, the risk per month will be: 1 / 12 × 1790 = $149.16, or approximately RUB 4,298.98. If the office is equipped with a fire safety system (thermal sensors, etc.), then the probability of a fire occurring will be once every two years. Then the amount of savings from taking fire safety measures will be: 149.16 - 0.5 / 12 × 1790 = 74.58 dollars, or 2149.4 rubles. (at the rate of 28.82 rubles per 1 dollar).

2. Calculation of losses for operational currency risk.

The business plan includes the average cost of repairing 1 piece of equipment. Since the cost of parts is tied to the dollar exchange rate, therefore, the cost of repairs is directly proportional to the increase in the exchange rate. It is necessary to include in the plan the amount of inflation (1% per month) or allocate an amount in US dollars for repairs. Operational currency risk in our country can appear not only every day, but even several times a day. Therefore, we estimate the probability of its occurrence at 0.5. Let's assume that we have included 1,500 rubles in the plan. + 1%, added for inflation and included a risk cushion of 4% of the amount.

Then the amount of funds we risk will be:

(1500 + (1500 / 100) × 1 + (1500 / 100) × 4)) × 0.5 = 787.50 rub.

If inflation is higher than our forecast level (for example, 2%), then our company will not incur losses, since the model includes a risk cushion. But if the inflation jump is much higher than the forecast level, then the company’s losses will remain uncovered.

As a measure to prevent losses associated with this risk, it is advisable to create a reserve fund in US dollars.

3. Let's consider the business risk associated with poor quality work. Statistics show that the likelihood of its occurrence will increase with a decrease in the ranks of working personnel. The damage from this risk is reduced by 2 times if the majority of employees have work experience of at least 1 year and a rank starting from the third.

4. Consider the business risk associated with a power outage. The likelihood of its occurrence increases significantly in winter, when the load on electrical circuit. In this case, the entire work plan is disrupted, which leads to failure to complete the work on time. It is advisable not to indicate any penalties in the application for sewing work, which will only increase losses. For example, some large medical institutions have their own mini-generators for generating electricity for this purpose.

5. Let's consider the business risk associated with equipment failure. This can occur due to sharp fluctuations in voltage in the electrical network, non-compliance with equipment operation standards, and wear and tear of equipment. The likelihood of this risk occurring will be significantly reduced if the following measures are taken:

• work with equipment through a surge protector that stabilizes the voltage;
• familiarize enterprise employees with equipment operating standards;
• promptly inspect equipment and replace worn parts.

Timely identification of enterprise risks will significantly reduce the amount of damage incurred. For example, only preventing internal man-made risks and operational currency risk will save 2149.4 rubles. + 787.50= 2936.90 rub. Risks may overlap each other, and some may lead to others. After some time, as a rule, new risks arise in the enterprise.

The task of a risk manager is to systematize accumulated information, develop programs to control and identify new risks and thereby prevent possible damage.

APPLICATION

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. general information

2. Financial and administrative data

3. Enterprise management data

4. Information about the territorial structure and location of the facility

5. Information about personnel and residents living nearby

6. Description of production technology

7. List of property (except vehicles)

8. List of vehicles

There are no own vehicles.

9. List of insured objects

There are no insured objects.

10. Information on losses resulting from accidents and equipment failures

11. Data on claims filed and compensation paid

At the beginning of this conversation, it would not be amiss to cite the reasoning of a Ural entrepreneur and investor, Timur Goryaev, which he shares in his book “Cribs for Bosses. Tough and honest management lessons that are best learned from the experience of others":

“People in Russia are less attached to their workplace. First of all, they don’t care about being valued, they don’t care about the time they spent with the company, they don’t care about everything the company has done for them. Secondly, the whole world behind the fence tells them every evening that stealing is good, go ahead and steal. People, strictly speaking, have never lived in a time when someone in our homeland thought differently.”

Perhaps these arguments may seem industry-specific to some, especially since the author really relies on his “factory” work experience. But our Russian working class specificity is such that the attitude towards employer property often leaves much to be desired everywhere. And it doesn’t matter what exactly the company does.

But the widespread belief that human nature cannot be changed should not deter those who decide to fight theft. In the same book, Timur Goryaev continues his thought as follows:

“The belief “Stealing is normal” is the first thing you will have to fight; it is very difficult to get it out of your head, but, I repeat, it is possible. It is enough to declare zero tolerance for lies and theft in the company, clearly communicate this to every employee and strictly, consistently and, most importantly, adhere to this rule without exception. It’s not surprising, by the way, that not every person can get satisfaction working in such a company.”

You can change everything in your company, including the “unhealthy” attitude towards the property of the enterprise, too.

Options for theft and methods to combat them

Let's look at some of the types of illegal actions of personnel, along the way understanding what allows them to exist, what consequences this leads to and how to deal with it.

Let's start with a type of theft that is familiar to many firsthand - these are petty thefts that are committed haphazardly and without special preparation. As a rule, the victims of lovers of everything that is bad are their own colleagues or small property of the company. The advice here is simple. The main thing is not to dismiss it: “Figure it out yourself! What about small children? and don’t turn a blind eye to these problems.

But a direct threat to a company’s material assets arises when systematic, well-thought-out thefts begin to occur. Usually dishonest employees - alone or in collusion - steal in small “portions”. And it is sometimes possible to discover the facts of theft only after weeks, or even months, when the damage becomes obvious.

But the worst thing is that in many companies management knows about such “activities” of employees, but does not take any measures to prevent theft, because “that’s the way it is.” A situation where a company turns a blind eye to theft as long as it occurs within “reasonable” limits leads to the most disastrous consequences. Theft not only goes unpunished, but also becomes a matter of course. Moreover, in Russia this is an integral feature of some areas of the legal economy.

For example, the sector of transport services is indicative in this regard. It is still considered normal in many trucking companies for drivers to dump fuel by selling it on the side. This practice, established since Soviet times, often does not meet resistance - after all, this is an unofficial source of the driver’s earnings, one might say, a fixed bonus. And even if the head of the company is against it, he is not always ready to go against traditions, because there is a high risk of causing discontent among employees and provoking sabotage.

The main danger of this state of affairs is that for the employee - with the tacit consent of management - this becomes the so-called KPI of his work. Every month he thinks about how else he can increase the volume of stolen goods. As a result, half of the company's fuel costs may end up in the pockets of employees.

A lively example from our recent experience

At one enterprise, 500 thousand rubles worth of fuel was drained monthly. Without regard to established practices, management nevertheless implemented control system. As a result, by eliminating theft and improving personnel discipline, the company managed to reduce fuel costs by 50%.

The fear of losing staff and causing downtime in the company’s work often makes it impossible to combat more sophisticated, “white-collar” types of theft, which are common almost everywhere. For example, with kickbacks and transactions through controlled companies, when there is room for manipulation of financial statements and the withdrawal of huge funds. Here, management can also be aware of what is happening, and often in collusion, sincerely believing that all this is happening in line with generally accepted norms.

Special SIEM-class software can help partially track such frauds. (SIEM is a combination of two terms that denote the scope of software: SIM - information security management and SEM - security event management. SIEM technology provides real-time analysis of security events emanating from network devices and applications).

How to completely protect your business from theft

In order to avoid a repetition of the situations listed above or to nip their occurrence in the bud where, fortunately, this has not yet happened, you need to base your work on the following principles and rules:

• Regardless of the nature and extent of theft, theft remains theft. All employees should be told that there is zero tolerance for any theft or fraud. One cannot even entertain the thought that this is possible in one form or another. Otherwise, theft will gradually become part of the system.
• Owners and managers should not be afraid to set strict rules of the game in their companies. Despite possible opposition from personnel, it is necessary to develop personnel and economic security, introduce accounting and control systems, including for remote monitoring of work processes. For example, to control a corporate vehicle fleet, it is worth installing a vehicle monitoring and fuel consumption monitoring system.
• Anti-theft should become part of the corporate culture of companies. The desire to work honestly without selfish motives must be conveyed to the team as one of the main values.

If you set yourself the goal of eliminating theft as a given and constantly remind yourself and your employees of this, then you are highly likely to be able to form a team where everyone is thinking about how to increase their salary with the help of their work, and not how to invent a new way to make money .

You can submit a request for a free 30-day test of the transport monitoring system

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Most managers know what a break-even chart looks like; many use it to plan production development and profit making. It is based on the following idea: an increase in production volume will allow you to “catch up and overtake” the break-even point, since fixed costs remain unchanged, and variables grow in proportion to the volume of production. As a result, after some time, income should exceed the sum of fixed and variable expenses. With this approach, the situation when losses grow with increasing production volumes naturally seems absurd. However, practice proves the opposite, opposing the accuracy of calculations and the logic of analysis with an equally compelling argument - the human factor.

In the work of a crisis manager, the antifraud function is inevitably implemented. Crisis enterprises are characterized by weakened protection and increased losses from corporate fraud. “Anti-crisis” cuts by companies in personnel costs significantly reduce employee income, while rising prices for goods and services only increase the need for money. The subjective factor - the desire of workers to maintain their quality of life and level of income - is enhanced by the objective - “tectonic” shifts in the system of product distribution and pricing, which ultimately provides a powerful impetus for the growth of corporate fraud.

For owners focused on business profitability, the real problem is the abuses of top managers. The point is not only and not so much in the significant amounts of losses caused, but in the negative consequences for the company. Fraudsters, by tailoring business to their interests, negatively affect competitiveness, reputation, customer relationships and the future of the business. There are several key positions in which a fraudster is most dangerous for the company.

It is common knowledge that prevention is cheaper than correction. If the described measures are not taken as a set of measures and fraud in the organization becomes widespread, then no resources will be enough to achieve a satisfactory state.

Fraud in production

It is justifiable to talk about “fraud”, “theft” and “abuse” in production when the guilt of a specific person is established, whose functions, powers and responsibilities are enshrined in internal documents (regulations, regulations, orders and job descriptions). To analyze the possibilities of their occurrence as potential economic threats, it is more correct to use another concept - “non-production losses”, i.e. losses arising for reasons not related to the production process itself and commercial risks. The source of non-production losses is the enterprise personnel using certain “schemes” - a sequence of actions with material assets and reporting documentation, as a result of which some employees receive benefits, and the enterprise incurs additional unreasonable costs. As a result, several small-scale processes can lead to production system to the complete degradation of economic function. This is exactly how one can characterize the situation at one of the metallurgical enterprises (JSC R), which the author encountered in practice.

Price manipulation during procurement

The essence of the mechanism of abuse in the procurement department comes down to the fact that purchasers, for a fee, provide a specific supplier with the opportunity to “work with the plant” on unfavorable terms for the latter.

To eliminate such situations, many enterprises organize procurement in the form of a competition. However, each procedure has its own workarounds. The example of OJSC “R” once again demonstrates that the competitive form of procurement does not serve as a serious obstacle to various types of fraud. Thus, to select a supplier of electrodes at the enterprise, a competitive list was formed in full compliance with the regulations. From the latter, it was obvious which company should be chosen as the winner of the competition.

The corresponding decision (on choosing a supplier) was approved by senior management. After which the contractors exchanged letters of guarantee, and as a result, cheaper electrodes (for example, made in China) were supplied, and at prices that are not the best in this price category.

“High-quality” reception of raw materials

Many large enterprises receive basic raw materials in a continuous flow, often around the clock, and from several suppliers at once. Naturally, a few hours after delivery it is almost impossible to identify a specific batch of raw materials. For example, at a number of metallurgical enterprises, scrap is accepted by the master of the charge section based on weight and quality. Moreover, if the weight can be determined instrumentally (by weighing), then quality control, as a rule, is limited to visual inspection.

Thus, checking the quality of a specific batch of raw materials, which for objective reasons is only possible at the time of unloading, is carried out subjectively. Non-productive losses begin with this simple circumstance. The simplest version of abuse when receiving raw materials at OJSC “R” was as follows. The supplier sent raw materials (scrap) of worse quality compared to what was declared in the accompanying documents (for example, a finer fraction, the presence of rotors containing copper, residues of oil, fuel oil, tar, glue, paint, etc., as well as non-metallic objects (concrete, stone, brick) and other debris). The reception was processed with the best quality indicators in accordance with the documents and contrary to the real state. Accordingly, the supplier received additional income, part of which was paid as a reward to the craftsman who accepted the batch of low-quality raw materials.

As a rule, only egregious cases of such abuse reach senior management. For example, when a wagon delivery of 60 tons of scrap contained about 12 tons of molding earth. A real “gold mine” for fraud during the reception process is the supply of a batch of special metals and elements (ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, ferromanganese, ferrotungsten, etc.), which are used in steel smelting to obtain a given chemical composition and structure. The cost of such materials ranges from 1 thousand to 35 thousand US dollars per ton. Non-production losses of special metals occur as follows:

Underweight (the storekeeper accepts less weight of the package and “writes off” the shortage when transferring materials to production);

Hidden misgrading (the storekeeper or site foreman accepts “big bag” packages with materials by weight, although they do not match the quality because they have a substandard fraction containing a smaller percentage of the active element or another cheaper element;

Removal by workshop workers (banal theft: “took it, poured it in and carried it away”).

Unaccounted production

The basis of the scheme is inflated technological standards for the consumption of raw materials, materials, energy carriers and (or) unaccounted for raw materials, which give the output unaccounted for marketable products. If in new production facilities equipped with imported equipment, there are, as a rule, no substantiated standards, then production facilities left over from Soviet times still use outdated standards. During the Soviet period, each of the “red directors” in ministries and specialized institutes solved one problem - increasing “science-based” standards.

It was believed that inflated standards were a director's reserve that covered losses, shortages, sloppiness and ordinary theft. However, the problem is not only with the norms themselves. What is more important is that the process of changing, developing and improving these standards is left to the production workers - personnel who were “forged” in the same Soviet times.

Often, the appearance of unaccounted for raw materials is a consequence of inflated standards at previous stages of production. Such chains exist in the alcohol industry (grain - alcohol - liquor), in the furniture industry (wood - chipboard - furniture parts).

If unaccounted for products have been generated, then their sale is a matter of technology. Export is carried out in various ways: through a hole in the fence, in cars with hidden cavities, in collusion with security, using forged documents, using real documents with a double attachment. For example, a real sale of products with export by personal transport is registered in the name of an employee of an enterprise. Only in reality the export is carried out several times. If the guards do not inspect the trunk, then the “smuggling” was a success, but if they look in there, then the original documents for “purchases for personal needs” are presented.

Inflated technological standards for the consumption of raw materials, materials, energy carriers and (or) the presence of unaccounted for raw materials at the enterprise cause the appearance of “additional” commercial products. Regular analysis of production and economic indicators of the production process helps to identify it. If excess consumption is recorded according to all basic criteria (in steelmaking, these include, for example, volumes of scrap and alloying elements, specific consumption of electrodes, specific energy costs, duration of melts), there is every reason to suspect the presence of “non-accounting”. In the future, all that remains is to verify the information received operationally.

In the case of OJSC “R”, the inspection took place in a very unusual way. Metallurgical production was stopped for several weeks due to force majeure. In this regard, the consumer of a certain grade of steel (a regular customer of the plant, played by an affiliated company) tried to make alternative purchases of a small batch on the local market. As a result, he was unable to find the steel of the required grade, although previously there were several offers on the market for its supply from small companies that were not the plant’s customers. The absence of any reasonable explanation as to why, with the stoppage of production at JSC R, all remnants of this special steel disappeared in the city, only confirmed the validity of the suspicions of the plant management.

The release of unaccounted products, as a rule, is carried out at night and on weekends, when the enterprise does not have management and supervisory personnel. The methods and mechanisms of its appearance partly depend on the specifics of production. In steelmaking, three methods are most typical:

- “double heats”: steel is actually smelted twice, and the melting card is filled for one heat;

- “pseudo-defects”: part of the good products is written off as defects that arose as a result of problems during the casting of steel into molds;

- “theoretical weights”: steel ingots are counted according to their theoretical weight, which is determined once per for a long time based on the results of control weighing, which everyone knows about. The actual weight slightly (2-4%) exceeds the theoretical weight of the ingots entering the next stage - rolling. The theoretical weight assumes that the thickness of the strip (roll) will be perfectly accurate. Rolling is carried out in the zone of negative tolerances, i.e. thickness is always below nominal. The first (excess weight) and the second (smaller size) give the actual production yield higher than the standard one.

It is not surprising that the program of total weighing of materials (raw materials, products, semi-finished products and waste) was implemented for about two years with the greatest resistance, and the launch of weighing control points and the transition to practical weights revealed an excess of metal of about 2%.

"Smuggling" through the fence

Particular attention should be paid to the “winged metal” aluminum. It is used in the steelmaking process, goes into slag and, therefore, is absent in the chemical composition indicators. Therefore, chemical analysis of steel cannot show whether aluminum was added to it during the smelting process. Its absence affects later, when at the last stage (during pressure treatment) an increase in rejects occurs.

Aluminum is supplied in ingots of 20 kg, which is convenient for illegal “flights” outside the territory of the enterprise. As a rule, the possibility of stealing expensive metal is the privilege of a steelworker or foreman.

So, one day, law enforcement officers found in a garage next to the OJSC “R” plant about 40 ingots of secondary aluminum, completely identical to the one used at the enterprise. All versions regarding the mechanism of their appearance in such an unusual place instantly came down to one, when people using the garage were detained: they turned out to be workers of the plant and that very workshop.

Additions and re-grading

Registration and regrading are widespread in the supply of raw materials and materials used in production. When accepting, for example, scrap metal, alloying materials or sunflower seeds, a non-existent volume is assigned, best quality, higher content of the active element, less clogging, etc. In the case of weighing, the mass is “collected” by earth, pieces of reinforced concrete, substandard fraction, etc. There are known cases of outright “lawlessness”: after the first weighing, the cars were not even unloaded and went to the second round.

The supplier pays the postscripts to the receiver or his manager, sometimes right on the spot. The scheme works in combination with weakened incoming control (Incoming control is instrumental measurements of the quantity and quality of incoming materials. It can be continuous or selective) and uncontrolled write-off of production costs.

A similar scheme applies to commercial products. Thus, ingots of expensive metals are exported under the guise of cheaper ones. Printed products of normal quality are “rejected” and sold as substandard at reduced prices (usually to the same company), and then sold on the consumer market at prices close to market prices.

Repurchase and write-off

Frauds with valuable objects, spare parts, and equipment can be carried out according to the following scheme: purchase (real) - write-off (part - real, part - fictitious) - purchase (fictitious). The conspiracy involves the supplier, the person who receives and stores the parts, and the person responsible for their installation, use and disposal.

According to the scheme of re-purchase and write-off, spare parts, components for transport and equipment, fittings and equipment “go well”.

There were also some very unusual cases. Thus, a commission of four people spent two days conducting an inventory of parts, assemblies, materials and structures in the service of the chief mechanic of one of the production facilities. As a result, it turned out that six of the eight 20-ton containers were filled with already “written off” valuables. In such conditions, repeated purchase of labor will not be possible, especially if the enterprise has several production facilities.

Another version of the same scheme: the main equipment is written off as scrap metal, exported abroad and modernized, and then imported under the guise of new. “Foreign” is an optional link in this scheme—modernization can also take place within the country.

“Kickbacks” and other price manipulations

“Kickback” schemes as a way to abuse employees can be used in a variety of ways: purchases at inflated prices, provision of low prices for individual orders, higher discounts. In any case, the counterparty company receives an additional amount of money, from which it pays the employee who carries out the price adjustment. The cover arguments are well known: the importance of the client, the urgency of execution, the reliability of the supplier, the lack of another option, etc.

There is another option for price manipulation: the current prices are hidden, and the buyer is offered higher ones. When a buyer asks to “resolve an issue for a fee,” he is offered prices from the current price list. Such a seemingly harmless “game” actually entails real losses for the company: distortion of pricing and labor motivation and, as a result, a decrease in sales profitability. All these schemes operate in the absence of working pricing regulations and price analysis.

Some types of manipulation do not depend on the efficiency of pricing. For example, an employee of a sales company registers a sale (of finishing materials) to a regular client (apartment owner) for a client who has a higher level of discounts (designer), and appropriates the difference in prices.

There is a “rollback” option, which occurs in complex and expensive sales. The funds intended for commercial bribery of the buyer are divided, and part remains with the seller.

Fraud during contract work

When carrying out contract work, the methods of abuse are limited only by the imagination and capabilities of the workers. Since it’s difficult to list all the methods, let’s look at the five main ones.

Additions in volumes. The most common options for distorting data in documents are:

Overestimation of metric units in the estimate in relation to the object;

Overestimation of the area of ​​hidden work on surface preparation (leveling, plastering, putty, primer, sealing);

Overestimation of the volumes of removed soil, gravel dumping and asphalt laying during the repair of roads and railways;

Discarding more expensive materials and using cheaper materials.

Unreasonable use of increasing coefficients. Bonuses may be awarded for non-existent unfavorable or cramped working conditions, fictitious use of lifting mechanisms or scaffolding, etc.

Doubling costs. There are two possible scheme options here:

1) doubling costs according to prices: the estimate simultaneously applies complex and unit prices for duplicate work;

2) doubling the costs of materials: the customer’s actually used materials are simultaneously included in the estimate for payment to the contractor (this is feasible when the accounting department does not write off costs for objects).

Repetitive repairs to facilities or equipment. One of these “tidbits” is the repair of crane tracks: complex prices per linear meter are high, while the actual repair costs are minimal.

Regular overhaul of the main process plant for continuous production. During the Soviet period, enterprises operated on the principle of autonomy and had everything necessary for overhauls of continuous cycle plants. Now only contractors do major repairs. In fact, the practice turns out to be different: the acts are closed to contractors, and the work is performed by the enterprise’s personnel and paid “in envelopes.” There is a known case when a new general director refused the services of “irreplaceable” contractors. The overhaul of the process unit was completed in the same time frame, to a greater extent and with a 2.5-fold reduction in costs.

Built-in business. IN general view“pocket” business is most often organized according to M. Zhvanetsky: “he who protects what has it...”. The commercial director “attaches” the selling company, the purchasing director - the supplier company, the production director - the supplier or uses an industrial cooperation scheme, the personnel director - a training center or recruiting agency. Less common is a business “attached” from the financial director, although in one case a company engaged in “cash out” came across. There are also examples of high skill in “embedding” within a group of companies. Thus, metal stolen from one division of the enterprise was bought up outside the territory and served as raw material for the production of a semi-finished product, which was purchased by another division.

The efficiency of an enterprise depends to a large extent on the personality of the manager and his internal motivation, so the presence of third-party economic interests among senior managers greatly harms the main business. There was a similar story in the case of OJSC “R”. An experienced metallurgy specialist who had his own business in the supply and recycling of metallurgical raw materials was hired to fill the position of head of the production unit. A “seasoned” metallurgist who knew firsthand how to “cook steel” seemed to be a promising leader, capable of organizing the smelting process without losses and quality problems.

Initiative proposals from the new boss were not long in coming. Their essence was the recycling of scrap with a high content of nickel and tungsten. Soon deliveries of such scrap began, melting began and encouraging prospects appeared. However, they all collapsed as soon as the first superficial check was carried out.

First, it was discovered that the competitive lists used to select the supplier were falsified (it was a company owned by the director). Further investigation revealed that the value of the tungsten contained in the waste exceeded the market value of the pure form of the metal. Thus, the director left the entire economic effect from the recycling technology and a “little markup” to his company, and the next non-production losses went to the plant. To the credit of the plant management, it should be noted that the contract with the experimental director was terminated immediately after these circumstances were clarified.

Manipulation in tenders. There is an opinion that all tenders are “charged”, i.e. the winners are known in advance. If the programmed winner is a real company, then all participants in the scheme receive their share of the commercial bribe. If the winner is “our” company, then the contract is resold to one of the real manufacturers together with the company or as a subcontract. The remaining actions are aimed at creating the appearance of a tender. If it is not possible to avoid holding a tender under the pretext of futility, lack of real alternatives and urgency, which is often artificially created, then other methods are used.

Reducing real competition between independent participants is achieved by limiting information about tenders and the features of complex projects, as well as by creating formal criteria and at the same time obstacles to timely registration and pre-selection.

Limiting the possibility of independent participants winning - for this purpose, the following techniques are implemented:

Participation of a number of “our” firms;

Lowering the price in order to win a tender with its subsequent revision due to indexation, changes in specifications, additional and unforeseen work;

Adjustment of technical specifications and conditions to a specific proposal;

Determination of technical parameters for a specific manufacturer;

Establishment of excessive requirements and subsequent acceptance of lower parameters.

Manipulations with technical parameters occupy a special place in the ranking of fraudulent techniques. According to an expert from a well-known company, a seller of technological and energy equipment, bribery of specialists responsible for determining the technical parameters that ensure victory in large tenders occurs in almost all cases.

Here's another story from practice. Two companies were interested in supplying their inks to a packaging material manufacturer. One of them had already been delivering for some time, the other intended to intercept the client by offering better conditions that top managers liked.

However, repeated experimental tests did not give positive results. During testing on the paints of a new competitor, the installation constantly “fell out” of the technological mode, and the parameters of temperature, speed, tension and dye consumption all the time turned out to be unbalanced. At the same time, everything went well with the paints of the traditional supplier. Thus, the apparently more attractive offer was blocked at the level of the operating personnel of the plant.

Top managers fraud

Commercial Director

The most common way of abuse by a commercial director is the creation of an affiliated dealer company (the so-called “pocket” enterprise). Relatives, friends, and trusted representatives can act as founders and managers of the company. Such a business grows and develops at the expense of the “donor” company - the main employer of the commercial director.

Interesting clients are transferred to the “pocket” enterprise, deferred payment is provided, maximum discounts are provided and best conditions, priority shipments, minimum order fulfillment times, in some cases - simply exclusive rights. It happens that the donor provides warehouse stocks and order fulfillment, as well as the formation of a “sales” staff. A side business is created and developed in a cost-free way, “with everything ready.” If the “donor” produces a product that is relatively scarce, then most of the sales can be controlled by affiliated resellers. When a product has competitors, it is even worse: sooner or later the “pocket enterprise” begins to sell competitors’ products.

In some cases, things come to their logical conclusion: the commercial director leaves and heads his own enterprise, grown in the shadows and with funds from the “donor”.

However, not every director prone to abuse seeks to go on an independent voyage on a ship that is equipped at someone else’s expense. Many continue to derive income from preferences for traders, kickbacks, reduced prices, advertising and marketing activities. In some cases, confidence in impunity and greed bring such figures to the dock.

At the beginning of 2009, CJSC Kuzbass-element (Leninsk-Kuznetsk) had serious problems with wage arrears. An inspection carried out by law enforcement agencies established that the commercial director of the enterprise, Vitaly Sizikov, contrary to the legitimate interests of the plant, created an intermediary company, Rustok-Kuzbass LLC, through which raw materials and equipment were supplied to the enterprise at a premium. Thus, the income received by the “pocket” enterprise as a result of intermediary activities in 2007-2008 amounted to 2.8 million rubles. On March 6, 2009, the Investigation Department at the Internal Affairs Directorate for the city of Leninsk-Kuznetsky opened a criminal case against V. Sizikov under Part 1 of Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of power). During the audit, facts of fictitious repairs of buildings of JSC Kuzbasselement in the amount of 8 million and 5 million rubles were also revealed. On April 17, 2009, two criminal cases were initiated on the grounds of a crime under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud committed on an especially large scale using one’s official position).

Another area for abuse by a commercial director is procurement fraud. These are often associated with unauthorized changes to the terms of purchase, in particular the establishment of a contract price, the application of discounts or other delivery conditions. The commercial director is usually motivated by the supplier or has other interests in the process.

In one of the trading companies, the commercial director in charge of the purchasing process personally negotiated on behalf of the company with suppliers and obtained significant discounts from many of them. However, this fact was not brought to the attention of senior management and shareholders. Agreements at reduced prices (including discounts) were concluded with intermediary firms affiliated with the commercial director, and sales of the company itself to the customer were carried out at prices without discounts. The company's losses amounted to several hundred thousand dollars.

Financial Director

The most common abuses of financial directors (kickbacks and ensuring accelerated payment for goods supplied or services rendered) are typical for large industrial companies, as well as for enterprises with solvency problems.

In this case, the heads of the purchasing department or technical services, who also receive a reward as a percentage of the amount. There are also more interesting options. We will consider one of them using the following situation as an example.

The venture was financed by the parent company at a monthly rate of approximately $10 million without much delay. Nevertheless, to cover the liquidity deficit, the company constantly (without breaks) used an overdraft and paid interest to the bank. By chance, the financial director had a trust management account in the same bank (despite the fact that the service for this bank is not standard). It is possible that during times of economic growth and rampant lending, the financial director became a participant in the “incentive program” when signing an agreement on interesting (for the bank) terms. In any case, when the company hired a new financial director who did not have a trust account, and adjusted the payment calendar, the bank began paying interest to the company on account balances.

In other cases, the implementation of the personal interests of the financial director, at first glance, does not bring direct harm to the company. First of all, we are talking about the top manager’s own business, which does not directly intersect with the activities of the employing company.

For example, the financial director made a start-up of his IT project, where one of the first large customers was the plant on whose staff he worked. The key department of this “Moscow” company was located in the same Volga region city as the plant. And after all, someone was in charge of this department... This is where the question arises: what is the real usefulness of such a financial director for the enterprise? However, to be fair, it is worth noting that CFOs are less prone to corporate abuses than other top executives.

Technical Director

As a result of the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, a scheme was made public according to which management ordered and paid for major repairs of capital equipment to companies affiliated with it, i.e. , essentially, to ourselves. This type of scheme is typical. Variations are possible, but one thing remains the main thing - the work is performed in a smaller volume, and partially or completely by the enterprise’s employees and is accepted “in their own way”, without proper control. The funds “saved” in this way are appropriated.

Another major overhaul focus is scrap metal. One inquisitive specialist calculated the balance of metal at his plant over several years and found out that they brought in about twice as much metal for repairs (sheets, rolled products, pipes, fittings) than they later scrapped. Where did the metal go? Of course, some were “eaten up” by corrosion, some were brought in only on paper, some, on the contrary, were taken out without being accounted for, and some remained in unaccounted reserves—“already written off.”

Another source of profit for the technical director, also associated with repairs, is expensive diagnostic studies of the condition of complex equipment, pressure vessels, tanks for flammable and toxic substances. As a rule, there are no competitors, the price is high, and the costs of the service are, on the contrary, low. In addition, the “motivating” payments are quite decent.

The basis of such schemes is minimal budgets for repairs, deterioration of equipment and communications. Therefore, it is not difficult to obtain funds for emergency repairs. First, a contract is signed, the price of which is not subject to examination due to the urgency. Thus, the poor technical condition of an object turns into a convenient way to avoid control over the reasonableness of prices.

A CTO-friendly contractor is on hand. As a result, the cost and (or) volume of work is overestimated, sometimes there are simply fictitious repairs. The key circumstances that make it possible to extract funds from inflated estimates are the control of the technical director by the estimator and “stimulation” for the preparation of “correct” estimates. Thus, to urgently ensure the connection of new subscribers, the technical director prepared an agreement for several million dollars. In fact, it turned out that if a company purchases the cable on its own and hires a contractor, it will spend half as much. As for the urgency with which the contract had to be concluded... 1.5 years have passed and no problems have arisen without this cable. When they “wrapped up” another contract (for only a million rubles) for urgent repairs of the substation, then in this case there were no problems. The most unpleasant thing is that a technical director working in this mode will never look for optimal technical solutions. For him, repairs and expenses are a way to make money. The rhetoric of such a “specialist” is typical: “The main thing for me is that this something works, but how much it costs is not my question.”

In addition to the considered fraud options, it is worth mentioning kickbacks. The specificity of the functions performed gives the technical director space for this kind of abuse.

In March 2009, employees of the Department for Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan detained the technical director of the Smarts-Kazan company for illegally receiving funds in the amount of 65 thousand rubles. During operational-search activities, it turned out that he had entered into contracts for the installation of base stations with one of the Kazan companies in the amount of over 3 million rubles. Work under these agreements was completed in full on both sides. However, the technical director demanded from the management of this company a remuneration of 130 thousand rubles for signing the acceptance certificate for the work performed. Based on this fact, the investigative unit of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Republic of Tatarstan opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (extortion of commercial bribery).

Branch Manager

It happens that after reorganization, former shop managers become directors of “sort of independent” companies. The parent structure (usually the management company) is at peace, since financial flows are centralized and there can be no unauthorized actions. At this time, the newly-minted directors, having received their seals, do their little business: they remove “clean up” leftovers from warehouses at prices 10 years ago, accept coal and lumber of clearly worse quality than stated, accept or place unprofitable orders and, of course, carry out offsets . By the time higher-level financiers get to these primary transactions, if they ever get there at all, it is too late—it is impossible to compensate for the damage. At best, the branch director can be fired, and not always, since these actions are within the scope of official authority, and what happened was simply a “commercial mistake.”

Based on the results of an internal investigation conducted by the control and audit department and the security service of the MAKS insurance company, the director of the branch of MAKS CJSC in Stavropol, Alexander Turyev, was dismissed under clause 9 of Art. 81 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The company's security service has prepared a statement to law enforcement agencies to initiate a criminal case on the grounds of a crime under Art. 159 “Fraud” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. During a comprehensive audit of the branch's activities, it was established that the head of the branch misappropriated funds under 3,883 insurance contracts. Thus, an actual violation of the rights of the insured was committed and damage was caused to the business reputation of the insurance company.

In addition, it turned out that more than 90% of the branch’s insurance premium was issued through dummies, who were relatives of the branch’s managers, who were illegally paid agency fees.

General Director-Partner

A special case is the general directors - junior partners. Typically, they act as the recipient of funds (investments and working capital) and the operating manager at the same time, which creates a serious conflict of interest and control problem.

Here's a typical case. The store director (junior partner), at the expense of the senior partner, maneuvering with advance payment and deferment, replenished the working capital of his own store. The problem, as often happens, “surfaced” by accident - complaints from sellers about the lack of assortment reached the relatives of the senior partner. In another case, a junior partner, the director of an advertising agency, withdrew part of the funds through fines and penalties to counterparties.

Among recent cases, one can cite the fact of abuse of official powers by the head of an organization, identified by employees of the Department of Economic Crimes of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Orekhovo-Zuevo urban district of the Moscow Region Main Internal Affairs Directorate. As investigators established, the 59-year-old general director entered into an agreement with another company to perform chemical flushing of the heating systems of five houses located in the village of Malaya Dubna. However, all the necessary work was carried out by mechanics of the customer company, and for the sake of order, employees of the performing company were indicated in the work acceptance documents. All funds, as expected, were transferred to the contractor’s bank account, from where they subsequently fell into the hands of the malicious manager. Thus, in order to gain benefit for himself, having significantly violated the rights and legitimate interests of the remaining founders of the organization, by concluding this agreement, the director illegally appropriated about 500 thousand rubles. A criminal case has been initiated against the entrepreneur under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Director for Economic Security

The Economic Security Service should have stopped theft schemes, but it is not without sin. Thus, some service employees do not bother collecting documents and evidence. It happens that they themselves become a source of abuse: they cover schemes for the export of products, organize “their own” private security company or illegal parking on the territory of the enterprise, and sell unregistered passes. A rarer case is “protection protection” for tender participants. At one plant, bidders were asked to pay so that they would not have problems with inspection, competitive selection and delivery.

Possible losses that have no direct value are the provision of information to third parties. The most obvious and not requiring proof example is described by Ural Suleymanov (Rules of hunting for “rat”, or how to deal with internal corporate theft. M.: Os-89, 2008.)). A list of “black cash” payments to bribe clients’ employees fell through the security service into the hands of an external specialist in combating corporate fraud and, apparently, was used in the case.

Abuse Prevention

Not all corporate fraud prevention methods are effective. Thus, loud threats of dismissal and other troubles do not work. Most of the staff are aware that, given the current state of accounting, it is almost impossible to collect evidence against the violator, and everyone who had such complaints against them resigned of their own free will without any other problems. There is an opinion that problems can be solved with the help of perfect regulations for the approval and signing of contracts. Multi-page orders are being developed, and lawyers are entrusted with hopes and responsibilities for concluding “good” contracts. However, the disadvantages of this system are more than obvious: regulations significantly complicate and lengthen the conclusion of contracts, lawyers come under criticism from management, and the advantages - significant results in preventing weak clauses in the contract that contribute to abuse do not appear.

Lawyers cannot be specialists in all types of activities to correctly understand the distribution of obligations and risks described in the contract, or to assess how their requirements correspond to market realities. Theoretically, tender and budget committees (commissions) should become platforms for selecting the best alternatives. In life, these expectations are often not met. Tenders do not work, but become a form of legalization of abuse. Budgets turn into an “agreement between the children of Lieutenant Schmidt” on the division of spheres of influence - who will shear which “sheep.” And again, the regulations (procedure) are not the main argument. A truly decisive factor is the formation in collegial bodies of a critical mass of constructive and non-corrupt managers interested in the best results for the enterprise.

This is not about removing the regulations on contractual work “as useless,” tender procedures and budget management. This is the basis for streamlining your business. They are necessary, like a dictionary for learning a foreign language. However, a dictionary does not provide knowledge of the language. Money cannot buy knowledge. Only the process of learning a language in combination with resources (time, money, information) with appropriate motivation can give mastery of a foreign language. The point is that it is futile to expect a solution to the problem by providing only the minimum necessary condition.

Main components of counteraction

An important component of motivation for fraudulent actions is the presence of justification, justification for the normality of unacceptable actions. Accordingly, the task of counteraction is to deprive personnel of justification at the level of values, personal examples, demonstrative analyzes and dismissals, as well as the initiation of criminal cases. Personnel, deciding to join the first or second, still react to emerging opportunities and the situation in the company. Taking into account the possibilities for abuse, we will highlight the main components of the system to combat them.

Clear separation between acceptable behavior and abuse. Some fraudulent schemes, in order not to be obvious, are accompanied by an information curtain - “chatter” about the development, promotion, image of the company, strategically important partners, entry into new segments and products, etc. It is not possible, nor is it necessary, to sort through all the clutter and check the entire set of theses. To clear the field and narrow the possibilities of “side currents”, it is necessary to determine the main goals and priorities, deviation from which, to put it mildly, is not welcome.

Availability of a carefully selected personnel reserve. Another contributing circumstance: companies almost always lack a full-fledged “bench.” As a result of this and the desire to minimize problems, management “turns a blind eye” to abuses and makes compromises in cases where there are signs of violations (“yes, he is to blame, but we have no one to replace him, so we will warn him strictly and it will work”). Even when an employee who has received a severe reprimand no longer commits violations, the rest draw their own conclusion: if you get caught the first time, they won’t kick you out. The measure is simple at first glance, but difficult to implement - to introduce the practice of cleansing the organization the first time. Integrity will be required from the management, and from the HR director - good job so that the personnel reserve exists not only on paper.

Combination of accounting and control activities. Imperfect accounting does not allow balancing the balance, determining the size of losses and conducting an internal investigation. But without this it is impossible to even submit an application to law enforcement agencies. Here we come to the need for constant accounting and control. This will require the implementation of simple and boring, but uncontested activities that require a lot of time and careful execution:

Proper organization of storage areas;

Isolation of defective and substandard products;

Registration of financially responsible persons;

Real(!) inventory;

Closed circuit for weighing raw materials (materials, products, waste);

Revision of material consumption standards;

Balance of main raw materials, analytical accounting of costs by types and places of their formation.

Taking appropriate measures to respond to detected violations. It also requires constant work by professionals to identify and investigate abuse, fraud, mis-grading, shortages and surpluses. But what if it passes, as in the following example.

The head (director) of the production unit brought in raw materials at “not the most optimal” prices. It took him half an hour to prepare documents and make a couple of phone calls. In order to dissect the situation, five people spent a total of two man-days. Result of review: the general manager simply took the information into account. That is, in terms of the effort-result ratio, the employees who defended the interests of the company were “punished.” So the right thing becomes a punishment for the right people. Next time there will be fewer people willing to work for the basket. To ensure that the number of supporters of the company's interests does not decrease, it is necessary to maintain the score in favor of supporters of efficiency at the level of effort and organizational conclusions.

Practical solutions

The effectiveness of universal measures can be explained very simply: most enterprises suffer not so much from insufficiently strict control, but from the lack of basic regulations for the movement, use and accounting of material resources, which sometimes have to be created anew.

Weighing. Weight determination must be carried out at all stages - from arrival at the site to shipment to the consumer. When forming primary documents reflecting the economic activities of the enterprise, and compiling the balance of metal for the entire enterprise, the following should be taken as a basis: real indicators weights, not calculated and theoretical ones.

Storage. In the absence of an equipped place for storing valuables (an isolated, locked and guarded room), no one is responsible for their loss. Only if proper storage conditions (including intermediate) are observed, is it possible to have a real, and not fictitious, effect of an agreement on the liability of persons receiving and issuing materials. This, in turn, provides grounds for collecting shortfalls, motivation to keep real records, and the ability to accurately determine how resources have been allocated.

Allocation and rationing of costs. All costs, overruns and losses must be attributed to specific heats and crews. Then, overexpenditures and losses are applied to the reduction of wage funds for the corresponding team. Thus, the results of work affect the wages of a specific team, and not the income of the enterprise as a whole. Moreover, the possibility of uncontrolled write-off of material assets as expenses is reduced.

The introduction of the minimum necessary condition at the enterprise allows us to move further - towards optimization and reduction of production costs. In most cases, consumption rates can and should be reduced, since they are initially at the upper limit or middle of the range of permissible values. First of all, it is advisable to delegate the authority to determine consumption rates that production managers have to technologists (who are not subordinate to the production director) or external specialists. At the same time, assessing economic efficiency and approving new standards are, of course, the prerogative of the general director.

Control of investments and movements. For materials that are “not visible” in chemical composition steel (for example aluminum), it is necessary to introduce regulations that make it possible to record the return to melting. In the case of OJSC “R”, control over compliance with them was entrusted to private security company employees who were located inside the workshop. At the same time, another limitation appeared: the movement of products and semi-finished products across the enterprise territory became possible only if there were accompanying documents with unique numbers and details.

Management control of the production process. A simple calculation shows that with continuous production, top managers can control the employees employed in it only 25-30% of the time they work. On night shifts and weekends, staff are left to their own devices, and not only in matters of discipline. An analysis of the indicators of defects and technology violations at OJSC “R” showed that losses during this “uncontrollable time” are 30-50% higher. This figure was reduced by strengthening control on weekends and night shifts and by switching management from “office” to a rotating schedule.

Since many staff abuses are situational in nature, and there can be quite a lot of “favorable” situations, we emphasize that the above list of fraud options is far from complete and only emphasizes the diversity of practice. In situations where the human factor plays a decisive role, we can confidently say that there is no instruction that cannot be circumvented or adapted to the needs of fraudsters. Especially if they themselves participate in its creation. Unique, super-effective regulations also do not give real effect.

The solution here is simple - create a system that prevents risks, stays ahead of events and is directed against the sources of fraud. Lack of transparency and ineffective work processes are the main causes of corporate fraud that need to be addressed.

In addition, the anti-fraud system must have its “roots” at the highest level of management and coordinately involve several elements, which we will discuss in more detail.

Operational monitoring and investigations. Most of the work to combat internal crimes in companies is carried out by economic (or corporate) security services. These services tend to be small in number and comprised of former law enforcement officers. Working in the law enforcement system, they were armed (literally and figuratively): weapons, powers and coercive resources, expertise, access to information about citizens and the ability to investigate in any other organizations. The transition to corporate security services deprived them of some resources, some traditional methods became unavailable, and the goals of their work changed significantly.

Small numbers, reduced efficiency and the power of little things, of which there are many, lead to the fact that economic security services cannot detect and investigate all cases and most cases of fraud are detected by chance.

However, the investigation of every serious incident, regardless of the outcome, is important because it demonstrates to staff that the company is committed to combating fraud and will not be left unchecked.

Diagnosis of weak signals. Identifying and assessing indirect signs of fraudulent activity plays an important role in conditions where monitoring and investigation resources are limited. The following signals deserve special attention.

• Agreements that do not contain specific terms of the transaction, and a large number of additional agreements to them.
• An unusually “beautiful” justification for a project or an unusually fast approval of contracts, in contrast to the usual procedure.
• Various forms of stimulation, lobbying for a solution (project) under the pretext of great urgency, uniqueness or lack of alternatives.
• Extremely loyal contractors who perform work for a long time “without money”, “on credit”, or, on the contrary, contractors who receive preferential conditions compared to others.
• Regular extracurricular work carried out in the absence of supervisory personnel without obvious results in increasing volumes.
• Regular breakdowns of control and measuring equipment. Use of standard scales instead of actual weighing (where possible).
• Repeated emergency repair work at one site.
• An increase in unit costs (especially energy resources) for production or a decrease in unit income.
• Unaccounted shunting operations of railway transport.
• Repeated purchases of products that are not used on the farm.
• Attempts to transfer contacts with the client to a private phone or e-mail.
• Lack of reaction (dismissal, transfer) in relation to a sales manager who has had extremely low sales figures for a long time.
• The appointment of a clearly dependent employee to a managerial position, giving him the right to manage resources and determine the terms of contracts.
• Inconsistency between employee expenses and their official income.
• Invitations of employees to conferences, foreign demonstrations at the expense of the potential supplier’s company.
• Deliveries from one company of products of different profiles and origins.
• Implementation of production cooperation over a long period of time through a company that does not have its own equipment fleet.
• Settlements with companies that have mass registration addresses and bank accounts in their details that are “exposed” to “cash out” transactions.
• Settlements with companies that have among the founders or management bodies employees (their relatives) who make decisions on purchases, sales, pricing, selection of resources and suppliers.

Qualitative diagnostics involves receiving and processing signals, as well as identifying directions for a detailed analysis of the situation or investigation. Depending on the specifics of the company’s activities, the basis may be a single, clearly expressed signal or a set of signals associated with one employee or a group of individuals.

Ensuring the reliability of reporting. Finance professionals and auditors (internal and external) spend a lot of effort to ensure reliability for the benefit of investors, shareholders and creditors. financial statements. However, real protection of interests often requires a shift in emphasis. Reliability lies not in the fact that the balance sheet and profit statement agree with the primary documents, but in the fact that the primary documents reflect the essence of production activities and the formation of costs.

To achieve this goal, a set of the following methods will be required.

• Control and minimization of unit costs (materials and energy resources) for production.
• Drawing up a balance of metal or other basic raw materials based on the results of actual weighing or measurement.
• Control in places of storage of remaining commodity values ​​and especially surpluses.
• Accounting for costs (work and materials) strictly for the objects of contract work and proper execution of forms KS-2, KS-3.
• Applying marks to new expensive components and assemblies, transferring used units to a special warehouse with subsequent disposal in the presence of a commission.

The use of a combination of these methods makes it possible to prevent and significantly minimize losses from possible fraud schemes using uncontrolled write-off of raw materials, materials, components and assemblies.

Contracting procedures. Contracting procedures are a set of actions to determine needs, formulate an order, select a product or technical solution and supplier, negotiate and control the terms of the contract. Contracting procedures are an element of the system that has the maximum anti-fraud resource. It is known that cost efficiency is formed not at the moment of signing payment documents or even at the moment of concluding contracts, but at the moment of formulating technical solutions and distributing risks. You shouldn’t expect lawyers to have ideal document flow regulations that will solve the problem, because its root cause lies in the decision-making process and the quality of their content.

Two successive stages of making a choice can be distinguished: 1) what to purchase; 2) from whom to purchase.

At the first stage, it is fundamentally important to determine what really needs to be purchased based on considerations of business efficiency, and not what one would like to purchase based on general considerations, personal preferences, desires for the “coolest” equipment and the creation of unreasonable reserves. Thus, for repair and restoration work, the primary task is to compile a defective statement. An objective document must contain the actual types and volumes of work, the conditions for their implementation, the need to use equipment and a list of materials used. Based on real “defects”, it is possible to obtain a fair cost of the work and a reasonable estimate.

For modernization projects or technology implementation, the key will be to assign responsibility for the formation of project parameters and subsequent monitoring of their achievement. Parameters may include indicators of productivity, product properties and qualities, unit costs, operating costs, and the absence of unplanned purchases and work.

“Appointing” those responsible after the fact does not slow down, but on the contrary, encourages fraud, therefore determining responsibility for the declared parameters of the project will be of a preventive nature. Even at the early stages of discussing and developing technical solutions, managers and specialists must understand that each figure that determines the cost and effectiveness of the project will be approved “on signature” and monitored during the implementation process, and will also become a factor of personal responsibility and a line in the motivation program, and in some cases it may be the subject of investigation.

The second stage—selecting a counterparty on an alternative basis—requires compliance with four conditions:

1) making an effective decision at the first stage;

2) the presence of a wide range of participants and the full scope of information for potential participants;

3) ensuring free (without discrimination) access to participation;

4) maintaining the confidentiality of information about competing proposals.

The company's reputation as an organization that purchases on a competitive basis and conducts tenders realistically increases its efficiency. Procurement on a competitive basis is unthinkable without prompt monitoring of market price conditions. It allows you to avoid significant excess of purchase prices over the market average. However, in many cases, market prices already contain the cost of commercial bribery and do not guarantee the absence of a fraudulent component. Further reduction of this component and approaching the optimal price is possible in conditions of effective competition. To do this, real tenders bring together several independent suppliers in one place and at one point in time.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, the following can be called proven for the purpose of countering abuses of top managers.

1. Systematic approach to pricing and setting discounts. Prices (especially for individual and exclusive orders) must be set taking into account independent expert opinion, although, as a rule, marketing departments are subordinate to commercial directors. The frequency of such reviews is from 1 to 6 times per quarter, depending on the market and product. The discount system should be well standardized and take into account at least 3-4 factors. For example, volume, size (term) of prepayment, profitability for the period, batch size, region, purchases from competitors, etc.

Thus, the creativity of managers should be aimed at identifying the main pricing factors and determining the size of preferences for these factors, and not at “inventing” prices and discounts for a separate “strategically important” case.

2. Analysis of dealers involves: calculation of gross profit and comparison with others, active sales of products of main competitors, presence of sales in the same city where the enterprise is located, frequency of use of the enterprise’s transport, volumes of return of claim products, presence of affiliates and former employees of the enterprise.

3. Dividing the management of retail and wholesale sales into two managers of the same rank.

4. Total control of the quality and volume of returns of claim products, especially those subject to recycling.

5. Identification of all affiliated persons of top managers and participation of these persons in the founders and management bodies. It should be taken into account that top managers themselves rarely become founders of contracting companies. They register them in the name of spouses or parents, their relatives. Indirect foundation is used less often, and foreign (including offshore) companies are used even less often.

6. Control over income and large purchases. A simple but quite effective way. Few managers are able to stay within the limits of consumption “according to salary” in the presence of regular fraudulent income. They buy cars and real estate (often for close relatives). Moreover, it must be borne in mind that usually only registered property is identified.

Since we are talking about the highest level of management, where managers have the greatest amount of authority and special information, it is almost impossible to do without attracting external resources that can provide:

Economic security examination and fraud detection;

Control during the process of defect detection and acceptance of hidden work;

Audit of subscriber connections and metering of heat and electricity consumption;

Independent monitoring of market prices and discounts applied by competitors;

Expertise on resource management efficiency;

Independent monitoring of compliance with procedures and maintaining competition when organizing tenders and procurement.

There are a huge number of schemes with the help of which unscrupulous employees working with transport and special equipment can commit fuel fraud. Experts in the implementation of fuel control claim that fuel theft in Russia exists almost everywhere where it is not monitored. On just one unit of transport, a company may be missing about 15,000-30,000 rubles every month. I found out how company employees steal fuel and learned from experts how to deal with it.

Not only drivers and mechanics, but sometimes even the garage manager and chief engineer can take part in illegal business. Experts claim that staff steal fuel from logistics companies in huge quantities, and this can only be countered by introducing special technologies for fuel consumption.

According to Omnicomm (a developer of technological solutions for controlling fuel consumption), costs for fuels and lubricants in companies with a fleet of transport and special equipment account for about 35% of all expenses, and the average volume of fuel theft in 2011 increased by 5%.

The methods of theft are extremely diverse: from the banal draining of fuel from a tank for the purpose of further resale, to the purchase of “left” receipts at gas stations and the manipulation of odometer or hour meter readings.

According to Stanislav Emelyanov, Deputy General Director of Omnicomm, the basis for the possibility of such thefts is, to some extent, created by the almost complete lack of control over vehicle drivers and equipment operators after they leave the garage. “In case of thefts, everything comes into play - “wrong” checks, inflating mileage, collusion with tankers, etc.,” says Emelyanov. “In addition, highly functional control systems such as tachographs or GPS/GLONASS trackers turn out to be ineffective against fuel drains, after all, with the same mileage, but different engine operating modes, fuel consumption can vary by 2-3 times. And construction equipment that works without leaving the site is generally useless to control using navigation systems. On the other hand, the increase in theft volume is also associated with the rise in price of commercial fuel and an increase in its price on the black market and, as a result, its value for thieves.”

The construction industry leads in terms of theft volume

The leaders in the volume of thefts this year, as in the past, are the construction industry and mining, which is associated with the high fuel consumption of construction equipment, as well as the impossibility of accurately regulating its consumption when operating mounted mechanisms. According to Emelyanov, in these industries the volume of thefts amounts to up to 60% of the allocated volume of fuel and lubricants. At the same time, the volume of thefts in the freight transportation industry has decreased somewhat, which is associated with the active implementation of various control and monitoring systems for vehicles.

In 2012, Omnicomm experts predict a further increase in the level of theft due to a general increase in fuel prices and the activation of the black market, as well as probable stagnation wages in the construction and freight transport industries. At the same time, under the pressure of market demand, the volume of thefts in industries where monitoring systems are being massively implemented will decrease, and in industries with a weak control system, such as, for example, construction, they will grow at a faster pace.

“It’s interesting that the problems of fuel theft are relevant not only for Russia,” continues Emelyanov. “In foreign markets, sensors and systems for monitoring and controlling fuel are in great demand. Especially in Argentina, Brazil, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Turkey, Chile, the Czech Republic, South Africa, as well as in other countries."

How to deal with theft?

The press service of X5 Retail Group reported that the company is very sensitive to the issue of fuel consumption. “If these costs were growing, we would not be able to offer customers low prices for products,” says Vladimir Rusanov, head of the regional projects department for public relations. “As part of the optimization of logistics processes, we were able to establish effective control over transport costs and "First of all, over the maintenance and operation of the vehicle fleet. We have built a system in the company for recording fuel consumption, checking and monitoring employees, in which theft or unreasonable consumption of gasoline is practically excluded."

What kind of accounting systems are these? “To successfully combat fuel theft, specialized systems for monitoring fuel consumption are required, both independent - for example, for construction equipment that does not leave the site, and combined with GLONASS/GPS trackers - for freight transport, allowing not only to track its position, but and clearly control fuel consumption,” says Emelyanov. - Such systems are based on a high-precision sensor for the amount of fuel in the tank, as well as a specialized control unit that monitors engine operating parameters and determines real consumption fuel." He said that such systems are installed on dump trucks, excavators, quarry equipment, loaders, pipe layers, diesel power plants, diesel locomotives, fuel tankers, drilling rigs and other types of vehicles and special equipment, as well as water transport.

Emelyanov also emphasized that an important issue is the ratio of losses from fuel theft and the cost of installing such a system, which determines its payback period. According to the experience of Omnicomm, this period never exceeds several months, and in some cases the system pays for itself in a few weeks.

The introduction of a fuel consumption monitoring and control system makes it possible to prevent fuel theft and misuse of equipment by drivers, effectively normalize fuel costs, control the movement of vehicles, as well as compliance with the route and schedule. In addition, the integration of a fuel consumption monitoring system into the company’s accounting system will make it possible to effectively suppress “complex” theft schemes, including not only drivers, but also management and accountants. And in some cases it helps resolve controversial issues regarding the use of technology in relations with clients.

“In general, the use of fuel consumption monitoring systems can allow an enterprise to almost painlessly withstand the increase in fuel costs to the European level of 1.5 euros/liter, which is just around the corner,” summarizes Emelyanov.