Finance Manager "accidentally" paid £80,000 into her own bank account!!

Who spotted the accidental transfer to her own account?

auditors are not there to manage poor performance, or even misconduct, merely to report it when it comes around

no don't do that!! This sort of activity is literally the kind of thing that can sink a business and cause it to go under. If you are very confident you could find a new job if this business goes under, and survive not being paid for two months because she's absconded with the money, then yes, ignore it.

This is theft. You don't accidentally link your personal account to a business one.

Go all the way to the top with your concerns. Then if they're not taken seriously, look for a new job as you're clearly working in a shlt and seriously unprofessional outfit

Most accountancy professional bodies have an online database of their members you can check. However you can be an accountant without being a member of a professional body. If she does turn out to be a member of one you can anonymously report her to them.

Surely this is an audit issue, do external auditors not pick up on it?

It often happens with inexperienced directors that they lack the confidence to make these decisions. This sounds bad though.

Yeah, this. I find it hard to believe she'd be chartered, making those type of fuck ups?!

This is all clearly gross misconduct and would be grounds for instant dismissal in almost anyone's books.

Who audits the company’s accounts? You could (anonymously) contact them with evidence.

at this stage? if she is fiddling time sheets? to the people whose timesheets she is fiddling.

Maybe asking because you thought you saw them more, etc?

Is this person accredited with an accountancy qualification? Because I would look into reporting them to them. This is shocking. Absolutely shocking. I’m an accountant and I’m more than ultra careful with any payments made.

I would send an anon letter to the CEO spelling out the risks and then leave asap.

I’m an accountant - accidentally paying £80,000 into your own bank account, I’ve heard it all now!

I agree with everyone saying that you should get another job and then send an account of her actions to the managing director.

If she is a qualified accountant is there a professional body you could raise concerns with - she is bringing the profession into disrepute.

She must have some serious dirt on the boss, or is she fucking him?

I cannot believe the FC could still have a job after stealing £80k. But there's nothing you can do about it really. The company will probably go under if she's allowed to continue.

I'd be trying to leave ASAP.

The clocking on early to get paid higher overtime rates could well also be gross misconduct and amount to criminal fraud. Is she leaving early to compensate for the early start thus working normal number of contracted hours but getting one of them at a higher rate than she should? If so definitely fraudulent. If she is actually working longer hours a bit more complicated but surely overtime hours need to be approved?

Is there no second signatory?

I'd let it depend on your and her relationship with the owner/higher level, and to what degree it actually affects you. Things rarely end well for individual whistleblowers, so at the very least team up with colleagues. Are you in a union?

Call the police.

She's not incompetent or bad at her job. She's creating that impression on purpose so that it all just looks like organised chaos and nobody asks too many questions. I'd put money on it (my own though, not the business's)! If you have evidence, you can report to HMRC and/or Action Fraud.

It is theft. Go to the police. A bus company went broke because the MD was stealing and by the time it came out, jobs were lost. He was funding a young woman as a mistress.

So many financial controls issues! If this person is using an app to make payments, it should be dedicated to company use, e.g. she should have the app on her work computer and/or phone. She should not be able to share the app with her personal banking at all. Who is the second pair of eyes on these payments she's making? Do you have HR?

This is a really shit set up in so many ways. Does anyone have any knowledge of ECCTA and the new anti-fraud law coming in? Maybe that will make the director take notice.

Same 😂

It sounds like there’s no internal controls in place to prevent ‘mishaps’. Payments over a certain size should be checked by another person before being made. If she’s incapable of using the app, then perhaps the desktop version of the banks site is more appropriate.
That being said, as a member of the admin team your focus should be on ensuring your pay is accurate, on time, and in accordance with your contract. If your hours are adjusted and don’t reflect actual hours worked, then raise that.

I think you need to consider carefully how you want to proceed and to be very sure about the evidence and facts you are presenting and where they come from. You also need to be very careful about how you are conducting yourself including asking whether you should be posting about your organisation and colleagues on social media at all, even anonymously.

How do you know these happened and whether nothing has been done to investigate and remediate? Given you are not in a management position where are the allegations coming from and are they being discussed in an appropriate way.

For example you state that they has been told not to come in early. Who told them and how do you know that unless you were there or reading confidential emails to her. It may be case that there is a general ban on overtime but sometimes it can be agreed exceptionally. And you might know this has happened in this persons case. It would be right for you to question why the overtime ban doesn’t seem to be fairly applied but it is better to phrase as a question rather than an allegation.

In terms of the allegation that timesheets have been changed, did this happen to you and did you question it? If not question it. If it happened to someone else then it is on them to do that.

I am saying this because office gossip can stir up a lot drama and misguided allegations. That sound serious and overlooked but in reality aren’t and will have been investigated and resolved. It just isn’t appropriate to tell everyone about an individual’s performance or conduct investigations.

Be mindful that there is always one or two people happily stirring the pot in the office and getting others to be their flying monkey. When you put your neck on the line they won’t be standing beside you or even behind you.

Well an anonymous tip off to HMRC would be a good start - most of the investigations they start are due to tip offs

i would say that if she isn’t making mistakes with payroll tax (unlikely) then there are probably corporate tax issues and also possibly VAT depending on the business.

HMRC enquiries can often lead to tyre kicking and other non tax issues come out

I think this is the best advice, learning what is within and what is outside your control is a painful but important lesson (one I am still learning!) Giving headspace to this isn't good for your general sense of well-being. It sounds like an inexperienced man (probably promote on "potential" rather than proven track record) is not dealing with the situation, but it doesn't sound like you can influence this.