A 64 year old priest in Waterbury, CT was arrested after missing church money was investigated. The priest is accused of stealing $1.3 million over seven years.
A couple of interesting things here:
1. He is accused, not convicted. Maybe somebody else did it, or the money will be found somewhere. (Unlikely, but you never know)
2. Understand people, not internal controls, steal.
3. $1.3 million over 7 years averages approximately $186,000 per year.
4. You do not know what you are missing until you look for it!
I bet that this was a control failure. There were either no controls, or nobody bothered to check to see if they were being used. What is really sad is that this took 7 years to come to light.
Any comments?