Managing a small business comes with an enormous set of challenges and at least an equal set of rewards. Though, this is not to say the scale stays balanced at all times.
The last several months have been difficult for the entire staff family at SBJ Publishing Inc. after learning on New Year’s Eve 2011 that an alleged scheme of fraud and forgery had taken place within our walls. The ensuing months were filled with internal audits of virtually everything, as well as efforts to heal the staff and regain what was lost.
Springfield Business Journal broke this story online Oct. 16 as the civil suit naming former SBJ office manager Jennie Tritch as defendant became part of public record. The suit alleges Tritch embezzled more than $97,000 between August 2009 and Dec. 31, 2011, when she was terminated from the position.
I can and will enumerate all of the things we did wrong that made something like this possible. It’s that very list of mistakes that ultimately prevents most small-business owners from filing criminal charges or even talking about similar incidents at all. My mother, founder and president of SBJ, Dianne Elizabeth Osis and I have made a conscious decision to be different. We strongly feel that telling our own story is in line with the SBJ mission of providing unique and timely news and information that local businesses depend on. If we can spare another business from the same pitfalls or persuade them to take needed precautions, then we will have one more item to add to the list of things we did right.
I can only imagine that our story is not unlike that of many small businesses. Most on staff are doing a job and a half, working as efficiently as possible to get the job done with no duplication of efforts (Mistake No. 1). We are a tightly knit group, spending as much or more time with each other than we do with our families. It hardly seemed plausible that something like this could happen to us (Mistake No. 2).
Now, for some things we did right. Actually, they essentially boil down to one thing. We surrounded ourselves with a team of professionals that had our backs.
First, we had a certified public accounting firm armed with forensic accountants who were accessible on New Year’s Eve to advise us on how to handle our discovery. A few days later, it was our CPAs that took a written statement from the accused and helped us to begin the process of documenting our losses and suggesting where to look and how to go about it. In the months that followed, the CPA firm managed an ongoing dialogue with the accused to obtain additional information that we could not have easily retrieved otherwise.
Second, we had a property and casualty insurance company that saw to it that we had an umbrella policy with ample coverage for fraud, forgery and employee dishonesty in relationship to the size of our business. They were right there to help us through the process of filing a claim and collecting a settlement that would repair most of the financial damage of this incident.
Third, we had the support of our banker who sourced no less than two days of research time looking at every check and deposit image entered during a three-year period.
It was clear that the entire professional team was as invested in the recovery as we were. Further, they remain invested in helping us manage the controls that will make a recurrence much more difficult.
Finally, we had the support of our staff. We are an open-books management company and just an open organization overall. We went to the staff right away with the details as we knew them at the time. We continue to keep the staff updated as new details unfold. I can’t imagine 19 people I’d rather work with. We owe it to them to keep the company safe. We owe it to you to share our story.
The case is currently under investigation by the Springfield Police Department, and we expect it to be turned over to the Greene County prosecutor’s office in the near future. As a publication and a small business, we commit to continuing to tell the story as more details of the case unfold.
SBJ Publishing Publisher Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@sbj.net.
