Do you know a male, aged 36 to 45 who works in a finance related function?

Don’t panic whatever you do but by any chance do you work with a male who is 36 to 45 years old and whose job is in a finance related function?

If you do then look at him as discretely as you can.

Is he exhibiting any of the following characteristics?

– Volatility and being melodramatic, arrogant and confrontational, threatening or aggressive, when challenged.

– Performance or skills of new employees in their unit do not reflect past experiences detailed on resumes.

– Unreliability and prone to mistakes and poor performance, with a tendency to cut corners and/or bend the rules, but makes attempts to shift blame and responsibility for errors.

– Unhappy, apparently stressed and under pressure, while bullying and intimidating colleagues.

– Being surrounded by “favorites,” or people who do not challenge the fraudster, and micromanaging some employees, while keeping others at arm’s length.

– Vendors/suppliers will only deal with this individual, who also may accept generous gestures that are excessive or contrary to corporate rules.

– Persistent rumors or indications of personal bad habits, addictions or vices, possibly with a lifestyle that seems excessive for their income, or apparently personally over-extended in their finances.

– Self-interested and concerned with their own agenda, and who has opportunities to manipulate personal pay and rewards.

If he is then that may be a bit of a worry.

KPMG have announced that after an analysis of nearly 350 cases that they investigated for their clients across 69 countries from 2008 to 2010 a typical fraudster was a male, aged 36 to 45 who works in a finance related function and exhibits the above list of traits.

Now, strangely enough everyone in our office who is reading this is has now turned to look at me who just happens to be a male, aged 36 to 45 who works in a finance related function…