Fraudbusters: Keeping Your Name Out of the Evening News

The problem is that the implementation of sound financial controls has not kept pace with the huge increases in revenues. For many groups being upfront about anti-fraud prevention is unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory. People are dealing with friends and neighbors, some of whom they have known for years. It can be awkward to ask the woman who went through Lamaze classes with you, whose children have sleepovers with yours, to start using cash count sheets and having a second signature on checks and turning over the books for an annual audit. But if you are on the board of a volunteer nonprofit, you know that the entire board has financial responsibility for your organization – it’s not just the treasurer who is on the line to make sure that things run right. And if a fraud hits the front page, it’s the board that the membership will turn to for answers.