Streetsmart Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers

Chapter 22Internal Controls for External Goals

When the talk turns to the subject of Bruce the controller, his boss grows positively effusive:

Bruce is a treasure. We call him our controller, but he's really so much more. He's the first one in the office every morning and is usually the last one to leave. He never takes a vacation. Last year I practically ordered him to take a week off, and he couldn't do it—he came back two days early. Said he was worried about the new payroll system. He's been around for almost 15 years now, longer than any of the rest of us, and he knows everything about this office. He's never afraid to pitch in and do someone else's job temporarily. I don't know where we'd be without Bruce.

Probably several thousand dollars a year richer. You see, Bruce is an embezzler. This is the portrait of a quiet crook. He works those long hours to keep an eye on everyone else. The reason he can't take a vacation is that if his system is left unattended for any period of time it may collapse. He wasn't worried about the new payroll system; he just needed to make sure it didn't accidentally uncover one of his schemes. Sure, he'll pitch in to do someone else's job. It keeps him on top of everyone and everything in the office.

Now before you complain that we are picking on old guys, we never said he was old. Actually, he could be only 33, having started with his present employer as a high school student, or he could be middle-aged, or his name could be Angela, who's ...