Fraud Prevention Through A Culture Of Ethics: The Story Of Mail Fraud (Essay Sample)

Fraud Prevention Through a Culture of Ethics Name University Fraud Prevention and a Culture of Ethics Although many relatives and friends expressed surprise and shock over the imprisonment of Chris and Alison Weston, the fact remains that the couple had been pronounced guilty of mail fraud by the U.S. court. In their account, the couple made it clear that the fraud was unintentional and evolutionary in nature. At one point, Chris even blamed the corporation for the crime they committed. Granted that the statements of the couple were true, it does not change the fact that they did commit fraudulent actions. Reasons aside, Chris and Alison Weston defrauded the company for their own interests. Since the crime had already been committed with the couple serving some jail time for it, the main issue in this case is the prevention of fraud in future instances using the case details as reference. Preventing company or organizational fraud requires building a culture of ethics and honesty within the organization. The story of mail fraud in Chris and Alison Weston case demonstrates the consequence of a weak culture of ethics in an organization. Chris and Alison were able to commit fraud because the organization where Chris worked as human resources officer does not have a "culture of honesty and high ethics" (Albrecht W., Albrecht C., Albrecht C.C., &Zimbelman, 2015, p. 72). According to the narration of Chris, the top management showed lapses of ethics and good judgment prompting Chris to model his actions after the ethical inadequacy of the organizational leadership. Placing the culture of ethics at the center of fraud prevention leads to the question of: How can an organization go about creating such a culture in relation to fraud deterrence? What does this culture of ethics comprise of and how can an organization use this to keep fraud at bay? Chris and Alison's case highlights the responsibility of the organization more than the responsibility of the individual. Approaching the problem of fraud from this perspective and focus, organizational fraud even when committed by an individual can be seen as a flaw of the organization and of the system. The need for a culture of honesty and ethics find support in the narration of Chris and Alison as they highlighted in their accounts the flaws and weaknesses of the organization. For one, the company does not appear to have a clear moral or ethical criteria in the hiring process. According to Chris, the company hired him for no other reason except that he was seen as an "entrepreneurial person with big company experience and a strong relations background" (Sucher & Moore, 2011, p. 1). Nowhere in his account did he mention a hiring criterion relating to his personal character and ethical propensities. The company's main priority was to hire an employee that could fulfill the functional requirements of the position. With this priority, the ethical dimension was ignored and identified as a less important aspect of employee selection. Second, the organization failed to segregate duties, placing most of the responsibilities on the shoulder of Chris. Chris described the general scope of his job as: "I had responsibility for all human resources functions as well as all support services procurement, IT, facility services, and security. I was being paid a lot of money. It was a big, big job" (Sucher & Moore, 2011, p. 1). Instead of dividing organizational tasks, the company relegated a long line of duties and responsibilities to Chris. The consequence include the temptation to acquire outside help, extended authority over many areas of HR management, and job burnout. These consequences converge to create the perfect situation or scenario for fraud. Third, the company failed to become a model of ethical behavior within the organization. Chris pointed this out in his account claiming that the top officers in the company "were known in particular for breaking a lot of state and federal employment and safety regulations. There was some very significant litigation going on with the company early in my last year" (Sucher & Moore, 2011, p. 4). Without a strong ethical leadership, subordinates are more likely to commit unethical acts using rationalization as their passage to subtle or blatant deceit. The culture of ethics as the solution to organizational fraud demands that an organization takes proactive steps. These proactive steps are meant to promote "fairness, honesty, and transparency" (Biegelman & Bartow, 2012, p. 45), which are th...