Players, pictured from left, are Jeff Pumplun, Bruce Berry, Shawn Zeiter, Jeff Zaye, Drake Crabtree, Richard Crabtree, Paul Scordia, Josh Lephart, Trevan Moten, Brent Walden and Brandon Crumes.
Scordia Restaurant Group employees faced off against a team from the firm in the third annual Scordia-Whalen basketball tournament on May 7. Scordia’s team was the winner of the seven-game contest, although the Whalen team was much improved from last year. Whalen Team Captain Richard Crabtree and Scordia Owner Paul Scordia think the annual event is a great way to build relationships with members of the two organizations.
The Scordia Restaurant Group is a Burger King franchise with multiple restaurants located in Springfield, Troy, Sidney and Tipp City.
To see pictures of the teams and the players in action, click here.
DINO award winner Paul Bordner, left, receives congratulations from his brother Brett, a former award recipient.
Paul Bordner, president of Laser Reproductions, received the Distinguished Innovator Operator (DINO) Award at the recent 2013 Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference. The DINO award recognizes veterans in the industry with remarkable skills that contribute to the additive manufacturing industry as a whole.
Paul was one of five award recipients, and his selection marked the first time in AMUG history that the DINO award has been awarded to three members of the same family. Jerry Bordner, founder and board chairman of Laser Reproductions, received the DINO award in 2010. In 2011, son Bret Bordner, Laser Reproductions vice president, was the honoree.
Laser Reproductions is a leading provider of rapid prototyping, manufacturing, product development and stereolithography services to industrial design firms, original equipment manufacturers, inventors and architects. By combining today’s leading processes, a vast production capacity and the company’s expertise in design engineering, Laser Reproductions delivers innovative solutions that rapidly bring ideas to life. Full-service capabilities include today’s leading rapid prototyping processes and tooling and manufacturing services.
AMUG educates and supports users of all additive manufacturing technologies. Members from all over the world are focused in advancing additive manufacturing technology for rapid manufacturing and prototyping.
Over the past several months, I have been working with small business owners who have been victimized by their office managers. The office manager was able to steal from them as the individual was trusted and given too much control and access. The office manager recognized this internal control weakness and exploited it.
So, how did many of these business owners end up needing my services? How did they become victims within their own organization?
Trust and a Lack of Segregation of Duties
Many small business owners develop a relationship with their office manager beyond the office. They trust their office manager and rely heavily on them day to day. The owner functions with blinders on. He or she cannot fathom being a victim and trusts the office manager, forgetting to structure the office hierarchy by implementing segregation of duties when at all possible.
Business owners should not allow one individual to have access to everything. The business owner must maintain part of the office administration to a degree. This course of action will create good checks and balances.
Pays Personal Expenses on Company Dime
Some office managers aren’t shy about putting their hand in the company cookie jar. They will blatantly pay their personal bills or write checks to themselves directly out of the business checking account. When at all possible, implement segregation of duties to deter this situation from occurring.
If an organization is too small to separate the check writing function, the signing of the checks and the bank reconciliation, I suggest that the owner ask the bank to mail the monthly statement with copies of the canceled checks to the owner’s home. The owner can then review the original bank statement and scrutinize the monthly disbursements. The owner should always inquire about a few checks per month so that the employee knows the owner is monitoring disbursements.
Credit Cards
Credit cards can be a bad thing for small businesses. Limit the number of employees who have credit cards. Company policy should stipulate that employees always maintain possession of the business credit card and never loan it to anyone. Furthermore, the policy should indicate that if an employee loans the company card to others or charges personal items on the company credit card, the individual will be terminated.
If an office manager has a company credit card, do not give him or her authorization to review the monthly statements and authorize the payment. To ensure the segregation of duties, the owner may have to take on this task in order to deter fraud from occurring.
Company policy should require detailed receipts to be maintained for accounting records of items charged on the credit card. With so many one-stop shopping stores, it is difficult to determine if purchases are legitimate business expenses without the detailed cash register receipt.
Payroll
When an organization uses an outside payroll company to process payroll, the owner often assumes that fraud can’t occur because the office manager doesn’t write the payroll checks. However, in most companies, the office manager has the authority to direct the payroll company and provides them payroll information every week. The office manager usually relays information about bonuses and pay increases. In most cases the payroll company has been authorized to deal with the office manager so the provider doesn’t follow up with the owner to confirm that the transmitted information is accurate and authorized. What’s to stop the office manager from giving himself or herself an extra bonus or a pay raise? Nothing. In small organizations, the owner should either call in the payroll or be available to the payroll company in order to verify that the information provided is accurate.
Theft of Cash Receipts
Cash is the most appealing asset to steal because unlike a check it doesn’t need to be converted. The office manager accepts the payment from a customer but doesn’t record the payment. He or she pockets the money instead. In order to deter this situation from occurring, all customers should be given receipts.
Larceny is another scheme office managers employ by stealing from the daily receipts before the money is deposited in the bank. I frequently see this in the medical industry where the organization has a stand-alone billing system. The billing system is never reconciled to the accounting system, thus making it easy for the office manger to steal from the daily deposit. If your business uses a stand-alone billing system, the billing and accounting systems need to be reconciled regularly.
Adequate Dishonest Employee Coverage
During our investigations, when we determine that the owner is a victim of fraud, it is not unusual to find that the insurance policy does not include dishonest employee coverage or that the coverage levels are inadequate. The insurance policy should be analyzed once a year to determine if the coverage levels are adequate.
Not all fraud can be prevented but there are ways to reduce the business losses. If you have additional questions or concerns regarding fraud, please contact me.
Partner Lisa Shuneson is one of six business leaders who are featured on the City of Worthington’s new economic development website. She appears in a video in which she discusses why the firm’s partners selected Worthington for its office location in 2003 and why the decision was good for the company.
She cites Worthington’s central location, ease of access for clients and staff, the quality of workforce (about a third of the firm’s staff live in the Worthington area), professional
ism of the area, and quality of services the city provides.
“It has been more of a relationship that we anticipated,” she says. “We want to offer our clients quality service and care and that’s what we feel we get from the city.”
Other business leaders featured are: Andy Rose, CFO, Worthington Industries; Harvey Glick, president/CEO, Insight Bank; Dr. Eric Schertel, chief medical officer, MedVet; Antonio Benton, owner, Mid-American Mortgage Solutions; and Donnie Austin, co-owner, House Wine.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010’s shared responsibility provision, commonly referred to as “play or pay,” is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2014. It doesn’t require employers to provide health care coverage, but it in some cases imposes penalties on larger employers that don’t offer coverage or that provide coverage that is “unaffordable” or that doesn’t provide “minimum value.”
A large employer is one with at least 50 full-time employees, or a combination of full-time and part-time employees that’s “equivalent” to at least 50 full-time employees. The nondeductible penalties generally are $2,000 per full-time employee.
Although the shared responsibility provisions don’t take effect until 2014, employers will use information about the workers they employ in 2013 to determine whether they’re subject to the provisions and face the potential for penalties in 2014. The rules are complex, so contact us today to learn how they may affect your business and what steps you can take to avoid, or at least minimize penalties.
