Welcome Back!

As this issue is being sent, most of you are in the throws of registration, orientation and for some the beginning of the fall semester. We hope the summer has been productive for you.

In this issue, there is an article that I believe may be the most important we have run in CR80News to date. In Understanding Financial Controls: Minimizing the risk for employee theft in a card office, we examine practical steps that you can take to reduce the likelihood of theft from your card program or other business unit. Embezzlement from college auxiliaries is not nearly as rare an occurrence as one might think. I was personally involved with one institution from which a card program employee stole more than $200,000 in card account deposits before being uncovered, convicted, and jailed for embezzlement.

Remembering how that crime went undetected for more than one year, I decided to spend some time examining the financial controls used in other card offices. I was shocked by the lack of controls in place at some institutions. I would be willing to bet that embezzlement is occurring from more than a few of our programs right now. The steps described in this article will help you to both prevent embezzlement in the future and detect it if it is already underway.

Be sure to read this important article and share it with the managers that report to you. Make one of your goals for the closing quarter of the year the strengthening and codifying of your financial control procedures. It is simply too important to overlook.

Have a great–and theft-free–start to the new school year.

Chris Corum
Editor
[email protected]