Payroll Related Fraud – How To Avoid Having Your Own Employees Rip You Off

It is impossible to prevent all payroll fraud. Timely detection, coupled with prudent internal controls, can prevent major consequences of this fraud. Since greed is as old as mankind itself, methods of payroll fraud are easily identifiable – as well as their deterrents.

Webinar Oct 15 2025, Wednesday 01:00 PM EDT Intermediate Level Code: GRC0000147

  • DEFINITION AND STATISTICS – we will summarize what payroll fraud is, and present eye-opening statistics as to the danger it presents. This includes recent cases where payroll fraud was discovered and prosecuted.
  • 5 CATEGORIES OF PAYROLL RELATED FRAUD – General processes that are vulnerable to employee and employer exploitation.
  • SPECIFIC SCHEMES – HOW TO PREVENT/DETECT – Specific schemes perpetrated time and time again. These summarize decades of fraud prevention reviews and audits. These are presented as a roadmap for your business to analyze fraud being perpetrated by your employees or owners.
  • RECONCILIATION BASICS -An oft overlook benefit of regular reconciliation is that it can detect fraud early. We will discuss the basics of payroll reconciliation.
  • GENERAL INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER PAYROLL – The “meat and potatoes” of fraud prevention lie in internal controls. Your speaker will share his vast experience in evaluating internal controls over payroll operations and systems. You don’t need an internal audit dept to follow the guidelines outlined in this section. Just examine what you do and how you do it – it will tell you a lot.
  • PAYROLL FRAUD INTERNAL CONTROLS – These are internal controls specifically designed to catch and prevent fraudulent activity.
  • IT RELATED CONTROLS – These are internal controls over payroll IT systems, from professionals in the field.

So attend this highly informative and important webinar. A thorough review of your operations and systems for fraud will solve the following problems:

  • Exposing current employees who may be perpetrating fraud against you
  • Identifying weaknesses in your systems and operations that should be fixed sooner rather than later
  • Providing a blueprint to tighten your systems and processes to close vulnerability windows
  • Professional growth – knowledge about detecting and preventing fraud is valuable to any employer, anywhere

  • Payroll and HR managers and staff
  • Compensation and hiring staff
  • Finance and Operational managers
  • Executive Staff

Day-to-day payroll operations take up the majority of time for most payroll/HR staffs. There is not always enough time to reconcile and review the financial data arising from the day-to-day activities. Therefore fraud can go undetected for months, even years.

So what can the average small to medium-sized business do to prevent and detect fraud? Even if you are a sophisticated large employer – your systems can still be vulnerable. The remedy starts with asking yourself the right questions:

  • How widespread is payroll fraud in the employer community? How much can it cost a company?
  • Who is most likely to perpetrate payroll fraud against the company?
  • What are the various schemes used in payroll fraud?
  • How do I prevent these schemes from succeeding?
  • How do I detect fraud early?
  • How does reconciliation play a part in fraud prevention?
  • What are internal controls over payroll operations that, if properly developed and followed, can protect us against this threat?

“When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.” - Shirley Chisholm.

Greed comes in many varieties. One of the most tempting methods to satisfy greed is to use it against our employers. We feel entitled to more than we are paid, succumb to temptation in desperate times, or simply take advantage of easy opportunities. Even if an employer can trust all current employees 100%, the dishonest ones are sure to come.

It is impossible to prevent all payroll fraud. Timely detection, coupled with prudent internal controls, can prevent major consequences of this fraud. Since greed is as old as mankind itself, methods of payroll fraud are easily identifiable – as well as their deterrents.

MARK SCHWARTZ
MARK SCHWARTZ
25 years of employment tax experience as an independent consultant and as a payroll tax auditor

Mark Schwartz is an employment tax specialist and has over 25 years of employment tax experience as an independent consultant and as a payroll tax auditor with the State of California. He has managed an audit caseload of 20 ongoing audits, from small home-based businesses to large multi-national corporations. He is expert at defining regulatory and statutory requirements from local, State and Federal government agencies; and helping the average businessperson understand what that means to their business. He has processed weekly and bi-weekly payroll checks plus tax forms for businesses with hourly as well as exempt workers, multistate operations and a wide variety of benefits.

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