Lessons · Accounting · covering yesterday's theft with today's receipt
Covering yesterday's theft with today's receipt
Lapping is taking one customer's payment and covering the gap in their account with the next customer's payment, then covering that one with a third. Every account is eventually right and every one of them was wrong for a while.
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
It is the scheme that explains why continuous effort is a signal. Lapping cannot be left alone: the person has to keep posting to stay ahead, so it usually surfaces during an absence, which is the real reason mandatory leave is a control rather than a benefit.
How to think about it
Compare the date a payment was received with the date it was posted to the customer's account. A growing delay across many accounts, concentrated in one person's work, is the pattern. A single late posting is nothing.
Worked example
A payment is taken and the account left shortOne customer is now wrong.
The next customer's payment covers that gapNow a different customer is wrong.
The delay between receipt and posting growsThis is the measurable trace.
It surfaces during an absenceBecause it needs somebody to keep it moving.
Your turn
Name the two dates whose difference reveals lapping.
Compare the date received with the date
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Chasing one delayed posting. A single one means nothing at all; the signal is a growing delay across many accounts handled by the same person, and reacting to the first one destroys the chance of seeing the pattern.