Whether we like it or not the general consensus is that the economic outlook for the rest of 2016 is looking bleak. And it seems that 2017 is not going to look any better.

You can be sure that your staff are feeling edgy – retrenchments is the big buzz word at the moment and every Board is having to account for its head count, often requiring that the CEO’s approval for any new appointments.

In an environment where people are squeezed you can expect the risk of white-collar crime to increase.

I like to give over experiences that I have with my clients where there are significant lessons to be learned.

So here is a strange but interesting account of fraud at a high level.

My client was the group financial manager reporting to the CFO. The company was a large manufacturing company with two huge factories, employing over 1,500 people.

The circumstances were rather odd in that, although they were somewhat apart on the organisational chart, they were good personal friends outside the work place.

My client (let’s call him Martin) really liked the CFO as a person and found him a great mentor and supporter.