Look out for D-I-Y theft

Employee expense fraud is on the rise, thanks to easily available and widely used desktop technology and online sources, warns a Grant Thornton research paper.

“We are seeing more examples of expense account fraud, which involves the submission of altered receipts,” says Jennifer Fiddian-Green, a Toronto-based partner with the forensic accounting and investigative services practice at Grant Thornton. “Scanners, colour printers and image-altering software make it easy to alter or even fabricate counterfeit receipts that can be used to claim false reimbursements. There are even websites that allow anyone to create fake receipts — purportedly for novelty purposes — that look very realistic.”

Common forms of expense fraud include single expenses submitted numerous times for multiple reimbursements, turning in legitimate receipts that should have been balanced against already-advanced per diems and claims made for payment for goods or services that have already been cancelled and refunded.