steve-in-kville wrote:[I will admit that I find myself baffled. We have a thread with well over 100 pages on the sexual abuse in CAM's organization. But when I recount an experience I had with them involving money (cooking the books?), people loose their minds. Its not an accusation. Its something that actually happened. I was there.
Again, this is why I'm a bit confused... why do we believe 140+ pages on the sexual assaults, but I mention an experience I had from 2013 and all of a sudden I'm making false accusations??
UKeep going and have your fun with it. I sit back and watch everyone loose their minds.
I’m trusting you acted with moral integrity and did not do it if it was against the law. Standing up for what’s right speaks loudly.
I took the issue to our CFO who told me there was no way on God's green earth we were gonna do what they asked of us. To be quite blunt, they were asking us to document (in writing) something we didn't know to be true, much less could prove to be true. We were badgered for several weeks to make provide a statement on company letterhead of whatever statement their accountants wanted to here. I was only it was to "square the books." That's it.
steve-in-kville wrote:I took the issue to our CFO who told me there was no way on God's green earth we were gonna do what they asked of us. To be quite blunt, they were asking us to document (in writing) something we didn't know to be true, much less could prove to be true. We were badgered for several weeks to make provide a statement on company letterhead of whatever statement their accountants wanted to here. I was only it was to "square the books." That's it.
That makes more sense that anything else, someone made an error on their end, and were trying to fix it. If you did what you said, you did the right thing. That may actually have come from a fairly low level.
I could tell you the one about how payroll entered a 8.00 toll reimbursement as 8000.00. Wife got a huge deposit, and we were on vacation and did not notice it till we got back. Payroll was trying to “fix” it before their department head found out what they had done. Wife immediately contacted department head as to how to proceed. Pity they had not told him about it.
And that definitely explains it Steve. It left me under the impression that this had been quite recent.
It sounds like you handled it properly. As J.M said it may have been a lower level person who was requesting the
statement, not really knowing the full implications of what they were asking.
That put you and your CFO in a very uncomfortable position.
There are some heavy penalties for willingly making a false statement, especially putting your name to a signed document stating it as truth. It is not something you want to be doing. Those things have a way of coming back to haunt you.
I was at one time certified to prepare dangerous goods for air transport and to sign the paperwork. I well knew the penalties for making a mistake on those shipments and signing false paperwork. That was drilled into us in our training sessions. Don't put your name to anything that you don't know to be true.
Thanks for raising the question. It took us awhile to get that through our thick heads.
knotdust wrote:And that definitely explains it Steve. It left me under the impression that this had been quite recent.
It sounds like you handled it properly. As J.M said it may have been a lower level person who was requesting the
statement, not really knowing the full implications of what they were asking.
That put you and your CFO in a very uncomfortable position.
There are some heavy penalties for willingly making a false statement, especially putting your name to a signed document stating it as truth. It is not something you want to be doing. Those things have a way of coming back to haunt you.
I was at one time certified to prepare dangerous goods for air transport and to sign the paperwork. I well knew the penalties for making a mistake on those shipments and signing false paperwork. That was drilled into us in our training sessions. Don't put your name to anything that you don't know to be true.
Thanks for raising the question. It took us awhile to get that through our thick heads.
Yeah, I ship Group 7, Radioactive Material. Had FedEx training. $10,000 fine 5 years in jail max. for knowingly making a false statement. I have had a spat or two with my own management, they simply don't know what the rules actually are. But when they got a random inspection, you can guess who gets brought out to handle it.
Never underestimate the lack of knowledge that permeates our society. MBAs rule the roost.
steve-in-kville wrote:I took the issue to our CFO who told me there was no way on God's green earth we were gonna do what they asked of us. To be quite blunt, they were asking us to document (in writing) something we didn't know to be true, much less could prove to be true. We were badgered for several weeks to make provide a statement on company letterhead of whatever statement their accountants wanted to here. I was only it was to "square the books." That's it.
I am still confused as to what possible benefit it was to CAM to have a wrong value placed on a donated item but I really do not have to know that. It appears you did the correct thing. And if I understood you correctly even the board had questions about this. Was it your actions that they were questioning or their employee's? If it was the latter and especially if that employee is no longer with them than I think the thing is better left alone and in the past. If you think the board still has an issue with your refusal I think it may be worth following up on.
If this was an employee issue it goes back to something I said in one of these thread a long way back. Sometimes in order to keep their operating expenses down, CAM I think has been guilty of hiring perhaps less than the very best. I understand what they are trying to do especially because many of their constituency supports them primarily because their administration percentages are so low but I think these are the types of issues you can run into when you have less than the best.
That in no way is to reflect the many capable people I am sure they have working for them.
appleman2006 wrote:
I am still confused as to what possible benefit it was to CAM to have a wrong value placed on a donated item but I really do not have to know that. It appears you did the correct thing. And if I understood you correctly even the board had questions about this. Was it your actions that they were questioning or their employee's?
I have no idea how to answer your question. Not to divulge too many details, we donated multiple semi-trucks worth of goods in March/April of 2013. The following December I started getting emails asking me to provide documents that I didn't have, couldn't prove, nor had access to. All I was told is "our accountant needs to square the books."