Velocity Business Blog Spot

Mark found out:

1. That many of the invoices for sale of items did not in fact reflect the true amount of the sale and there was money missing from sales – amounted to over $85,000.
2. There had been many inconsistencies between, sales, rentals and service records.
3. Many of Mark’s true and time tested clients would no longer purchase from him because of “unsavourey” work eithics of Tom blamed onto Mark.
4. There was a financial lender using a spare office on Mark’s premises that Mark did not know about and was paying “rental” in cash direct to Tom.
5. Mark’s bookkepper that had been with him for 12 years had left due to pressure that Tom put on her for unethical book management principles that Tom was insisting on.
6. Mark’s best mechanic had been fired and replaced with a close friend of Tom’s.
7. And of course the real nailler to everything was that there was now five “ghost” employees on the books and the ATO wanted their money.

Mark was stunned and suddenly had to drop his “dream career” to salvage what he had put so much effort into and at least try to stop the business “bleeding”. Of course you are wondering if he report this to the authorities – YES - but that investigation is still continuing.

What were the damges you ask? Well just in cash-flow it amounted to about $150,000, however there is a genuine belief that will continue to grow as Mark is confronted by other clients that had dealings with Tom. More importantly there was substantial business damage through the loss of trust that many had developed in dealing with Mark’s business, plus the nightmare of dealing with a very unforgiving, suspecting Australian Taxation Office.

You would think that this was enough for Mark, however the saga did not end there.

Mark discovered that Tom had systematically and purposefully undermined his business by

• Reporting Mark to Fair Traiding, Australian Taxation Office, Queensland Police for all sorts of fictious business activities including fraudulently changing recorded details of merchandise.
• Setting up business in direct competition to Mark utilising Mark’s formula for success and replicating that exactly, including the physical layout of the business.
• Poaching of Mark’s clients utilising the database of information that he had previously had access to as Mark’s Manager.
• Continuing to contact Mark’s employees and blame Mark for all sorts of issues including their dismissal by Tom, saying that Mark had directed him to fire them.
• Constant bombardment of SMS text messages and emails to Mark and his family threatening to tell everyone about how Mark had made Tom commit the unethical business actions on Mark’s behalf.
• And of course the list continues to grow.

Mark was speaking to his Accountant one day and it was suggested he needed to get professional assistance to make sure this type of incident did not happen again. We were pleased to get Mark’s call and we have made a difference in his life - Mark is a mate of ours!

If you suspect you are or have been at risk then:-
Call Darryl at DeJARM Consultants on 0413-243-479 or bizassist@live.com.au
We are the “people risk” management specialists and our goal is to safeguard your critical profitability from exploitation.
We find the ANSWERS that you need as a sustainable and ethically operating SME.

No? Well that is fantastic – you should now be very relieved that you can go on holidays away from your business for six months knowing that everything is safe and sound. Right?

What’s that – “No” you say. Why you say your people are not a risk to you. Or are they?

Let me tell you about Mark – really nice guy, has been in his industry for over 30 years and operating his own successful business for the past 18 years. Working hard, often 7 days a week and up to 14 hours a day. Sounds no different to you or me. He had built his business to a multi-millon dollar concern with seven staff and he treated them more like family with additional liberties than would normally be offered to employees, but as it was his business hed felt he could do that.

Then he decided he finally needed to spend more time with his family. He had young children and a boat but could never get away long enough for even joyriding with the kids on the local waterways.

Mark decided to employ an Operations Manager, somebody that was recommended to him through a relative, with industry knowledge. Well this new guy was an absolute pealer. Not only was he good at selling and closing deals, but he also had the staff liking him too. He was also able to introduce all sorts of innovative ideas to improve sales and turnover. In fact Mark felt so comfortable with him that it wasn’t long before Mark was taking every Friday off and being with the family over the whole weekend.

Eventually Mark decided that his star Operations Manager, let’s call him Tom, was doing such a magic job that he would give Tom the reins of his business that he had spent 18 years of blood, sweat and tears building. Mark decided that he wanted to try his hand at the career that he had always thought would be his dream job. Why not, after all the business was going great and Tom certainly had an excellent handle on what was happening. Also he had never been game to try out this new career now as he needed substantial cashflow and time. Everything was perfect now for being successful in his second career choice.

All was going really well for several months until one day he accidentially ran into one of old customers from the business Tom was now running and asked why he had not yet received the machinery part that he had paid $10,000 cash for three months earlier. Mark did not think a lot of it and left a message for Tom to follow up. Then the very next day he received a call from the Australian Taxation Office and his Accountant trying to work out the details of five (5) new employees for tax payments. Mark was suddenly very sick because he knew that there were no additional staff, but the two things together smelt like a “rat” in the pantry. As business people you would understand.

Mark immediately took back control of the business and after several weeks and quite a few arguments Tom left. Then it really started.

Next issue will go through the pangs of discovery and resulting business issues for Mark

If you suspect you are or have been at risk then:-
Call Darryl at DeJARM Consultants on 0413-243-479 or bizassist@live.com.au
We are the “people risk” management specialists and our goal is to safeguard your critical profitability from exploitation.
We find the ANSWERS that you need as a sustainable and ethically operating SME.