Costco shareholders have overwhelmingly rejected an anti-DEI proposal as other U.S. companies retreat from their diversity policies

November 22nd, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment for two co-founders of #blueacorn. Inside, Nathan Reis and Stephanie Hockridge are allegedly to have engaged in a fraudulent scheme to obtain Covid-19 funds. This scheme included submitting falsified documents to secure PPP loans.

The ACFE is always a great resource for information about statistics, and is likely the most cited resource on Fraud statistics, commonly I’ll go to cite a source, look at their sources and its a study or resource by the ACFE. Their work is infinitely invaluable when attempting to educated on Fraud.

According to the ACFE- The biggest indicators an employee might harm your business through fraud are:
(1) Conspicuous consumption and/or living beyond their means
(2) Financial difficulties
(3) Recent divorce or other family issues
(4) Excessive control issues
(5) A "wheeling and dealing" attitude

The ACFE believes three primary red flags illuminate if an employee is a particular risk for defrauding their employer. (1) Financial Need (2) Opportunity (3) Rationalization.
Financial need is likely the most self explanatory, and rationalization is often an internal process. “I deserve x”

“Planners around the country are learning more & more the background of zoning — its extreme limitations, extreme exclusion & how zoning doesn’t really deliver the communities we want to live in. Communities happen organically... because of flexibility.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Earlier I mentioned 99.9% of U.S Businesses are “Small Businesses,” but perhaps even more interestingly - in 2019 of the 6.1 million businesses that offered hired employees (“employer firms”) 78.5% of them had 10 employees or less.

Fraud Awareness Week is Nov 17-23. The #ACFE has released the following flyer for business owners and their employees.

www.fraudweek.com/-/media/file...

SBA’s #nonbank #lenders face scrutiny after $14B in suspected PPP fraud, spurring calls for stricter oversight and transparency. #SBA gathorizon.com/sbas-nonbank...

Fun small business facts to get started, recently the Office of Advocacy for the SBA stated that 99.9% of United States businesses are “Small Businesses,” roughly 33 million small businesses!
Just under half (46.4%) of all workers are employed by a small business!
-
advocacy.sba.gov/2023/03/07/f...

Posts here should fall into two main categories (1) educational content about how to prevent fraud in your own small business (2) information about scandals relating to fraud in small businesses.

It is important for small business owners to understand both categories to protect their passions.