Getting sick of my greedy boss- any advice please?

[Liz1tummypain]

My boss is in the building/property development business and though I actually get on well with him there have been 2 occasions where I have to bite my tongue. Firstly a well-known public charity paid him rent twice- about £4k each time and he's keeping quiet. Another one is a little local business keep messing up and over-paying us. They've overpaid by over £10k now. I'm just ticked off by his greediness. Would you just accept this?

Ummm no I’d be whistle blowing, frankly. If he’s doing that, what else is he doing?

It’s not greed - it’s theft!

I would somehow make sure that the people concerned knew to double check their past payments, without overtly calling him out.

He's the owner of the business, he's been in business a long time and he's very, very rich. Insanely rich. These amounts of money are peanuts to him. But he does expect loyalty and if he knew I disagreed with his attitude he'd think I was getting too big for my boots I think

Are you in charge of accounts?

@ MsMarple if somebody keeps paying more than they owe, I'm not sure if it is theft. Is that theft to keep the money that people pay you in error?

@ Palaver, yes, it's just me and one other lady in accounts and she is used to looking the other way.

I wouldn't say anything if there is no whistle blowing scheme and you feel it would impact your job. However I couldn't work somewhere like that and I would be looking to move somewhere else.

Do you have any professional qualifications?

Those of us in professional bodies are bound by a code of ethics that mean, at the very least, we would be expected to raise this - and, in the event of no action being taken, consider our positions untenable.

He sounds a greedy and dishonest, how can anyone think it's ok to keep money that has been paid in error. How can it be acceptable to be complicit in this I wonder if everyone would just look the other way if the situation were reversed and be paid out more than be needed to.

@Liz1tummypain

@ MsMarple if somebody keeps paying more than they owe, I'm not sure if it is theft. Is that theft to keep the money that people pay you in error?

Yes, it's theft. Keeping monies that don't belong to you, with the intent of depriving the real owner.

Could you notify them anonymously?

I'd be tipping off the charities tbh!

If they are overpaying the business would not their 'account' show them to be in credit. Do you send out monthly statements?

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

If they are overpaying the business would not their 'account' show them to be in credit. Do you send out monthly statements?

This. Overpayments/duplicate payments need to be shown as credits on their next statement/ next invoice. This would be a totally ordinary thing to do so just play innocent if anyone asks you why you've included the credits look smiley and puzzled and ask 'oh, why wouldn't we?'

@ Two left socks with holes- I wish we did send statements, but no, we've never needed to. I'm thinking of trying to print their account and send it out when our next invoice gets sent. Just worried n case they should refer to it in an email. It wouldn't go down too well.

I would send a statement and include a note "further to your request here is a statement"

Someone rang up and asked for one didn't they

@ Random Mess, yes that's a possibility. I like that one :)

What have you got to lose by informing the charity and the local business that they have overpaid by thousands. How would you feel if you ran a local business and were £10k short because no one was honest enough or had enough professionsl integrity to point out the error. Why would you want to work with dishonest people.

How are you accounting for the overpayments? Surely they need to be allocated to the relevant account, and if not, where?

@FleasInMyKnees- Worst scenario is I have my job to lose. Best scenario is an awkward conversation because my boss thinks this is normal business behaviour. He is extremely wealthy and he's used to the external accountants trying anything for him. It's been a real eye opener the last few years.

@ Corrblimey, the amounts are just held onto for a year or so and then he'll just treat it as if he'd earned it

Are the accounts never audited?

There will be a lot more to lose when this comes to light and no one did anything about it.

@ nimbuscloud- I've realised by now that they don't ask many questions. Anyway I think I'm going to do as Random Mess suggests and send a copy of their account to them with a brief note that theyve asked for it. It would be hard to miss if they look at their account . Happy with this outcome.

You know it is happening, why didn't you just let the tenants know they very first time you saw an overpayment? I'm shocked that you have gone along with it this long.