Check and payment tampering (forged, altered, authorized maker, concealed, EFT payee changes)

An employee converts an organization payment by forging the maker's signature, forging an endorsement, altering the payee or amount, presenting a check for signature among legitimate checks (concealed check), or, as an authorized signer, writing checks to themselves. The electronic form changes a vendor's bank account to one the employee controls before a payment run and changes it back afterward.

Fully covered.

Starter pack: Disbursement review

Red flags

In the data

• Payee or amount on the bank's cleared item differs from the register
• Gaps, duplicates, and out-of-sequence check numbers; manual checks
• Void-and-reissue patterns and voids recorded after the check cleared
• EFT to bank accounts not on the vendor master or that belong to employees
• Vendor bank account changed shortly before a payment and changed back afterward
• Payments outside normal payment runs

Behavioral

• Employee collects the bank statement or reconciles alone
• Employee handles check stock and has access to signature stamps

Internal controls

• Check stock and signature stamps not secured
• Bank reconciliation prepared by someone who also disburses
• Vendor bank changes not verified by call-back to a known contact
• No positive pay or payee positive pay with the bank