Lessons · Accounting · somebody on the payroll who does not exist
Somebody on the payroll who does not exist
A ghost employee is a payroll record for a person who never worked there, or who left and was never removed. The pay goes somewhere, and where it goes is the thing that gives it away.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a qualified accountant. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
Payroll is attractive precisely because it is routine: the same amounts leave on the same day every month and nobody examines a list they have approved fifty times. It is also one of the easier schemes to test for, because the money has to arrive in an account somebody controls.
How to think about it
Look for bank accounts appearing against more than one employee, for records with no deductions or no leave ever taken, and for people who were never recruited through the normal process. Then confirm the person exists before anything else happens.
Worked example
One bank account on two payroll recordsThe single strongest indicator.
No leave ever taken, no deductionsA person who never behaves like a person.
Added outside the normal recruitment processNobody remembers interviewing them.
Confirm existence before actingBecause the innocent explanations are real and common.
Your turn
Name the strongest indicator that two payroll records may be one person.
The same appearing against more than one employee
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Treating a shared bank account as proof. Couples working for the same employer share accounts, and so do a parent and a student child. It is a reason to ask, and the asking has to be done in a way that does not accuse somebody of theft for having a joint account.