An ounce of prevention: Combatting fraud in not-for-profits

Fraud, both internal and external, is a risk in all types of businesses. Unfortunately, charitable organizations and not-for-profits (NFPs) are not immune.

Why are NFPs likely to be victims of fraud? Due to their charitable or mission focus, NFP leaders are often more trusting of employees and volunteers. Further, many NFPs are subject to budget constraints and misguided incentives to maximize resources spent directly on mission achievement to the detriment of critical administrative support, accounting, internal controls and technology. Typically,