Case Study - Time Sheet Irregularities
Introduction
You are a Fraud Investigator/Forensic Accountant for a large corporation. Sarah Bellum, Manager - Payroll, calls you late one evening. She was reviewing the payroll records for one of the groups reporting to Vice President - Don Wanna Know. Specifically, there was something in the time entries for Don's assistant, Irma Hardworker, which puzzled her.
Sarah sent the payroll records to you for the period from May 13, 2013 - May 2, 2014. Unfortunately before she could explain the data in detail, she was called to another meeting. However, she was able to give you a little background on Irma before she had to hang up. That detail is shown below:
• Irma is a long-term, non-exempt (hourly) employee and must submit a weekly timesheet for all hours worked;
• Irma typically works an 8-hour day;
• Irma is eligible for overtime for all hours over 40 that she works in any week;
• Irma reports to Don who is responsible for reviewing her timesheets but need not approve them;
• Company policy states that employees should get approval for overtime but even if they don't they are to record all hours worked accurately
• Irma is entitled to vacation time and nine company holidays;
o New Year's Day
o Good Friday
o Memorial Day
o July 4th
o Labor Day
o Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday;
o Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
• Irma gets 20 days of vacation each year but may carryover time from the previous year if she didn't use all 20 days;
• Irma's duties include keeping Don's calendar, managing his correspondence and e-mail, managing his extensive travel schedule and other projects as assigned;
• Don receives the usual suite of reports on his group's performance including budget vs actual, spending by category, etc.
Assignment Requiremets
The assignment requirements are threefold:
1.) Analyze the data - your analysis will involve the use of excel sheet; you might find it helpful to use pivot tables. If you are not up to speed on pivot tables, there are several helpful YouTube tutorials.
2.) Interview Don & Irma regarding the data.
3.) Draft a report outlining your findings based on the analysis and your interviews -
More detailed information about each requirement is provided below:
Analysis
Determine Irma's hours worked per pay period. Look for any irregularities or patterns. Your analysis may include sources other than the data provided. Further, not every data field contains relevant information. Think of other facts that you can derive from the data besides how much time Irma worked that could help you establish what happened - if anything. Based on the data what do you want to ask Irma and Don?
No less than five questions for each.
Interviews
Use your knowledge of the data to guide your questions but don't limit your questions to the data.
Guidelines for questions:
• Yes or no questions get yes or no answers - that doesn't mean you shouldn't ask them but be judicious;
• Think small - elaborate ‘gotcha' questions rarely work and usually just confuse the interviewee; and
• Remember - your job is to figure out what happened.
The Report
Draft a 2-page memo (with up to 2 pages of exhibits) to the VP of Human Resources. Your report must address the following:
• The reason for your investigation;
• Your analysis of the data and the interviews;
• Your conclusion regarding what happened;
• Your recommendation regarding discipline, if warranted, for Don and/or Irma.
There are no correct or incorrect answers. There is just your assessment of the data, the interviews and what you think they mean.
Attachment:- Think_Paper_Time_Reporting_Case.xlsx