How to guarantee fraud
- Under pressure from donors, supporters and your own press department, rush the programme set-up. It is vital to be seen to be responding, even though you do not have a plan, a country base, an experienced country manager, head office management capacity, or even any experience of humanitarian work.
- Pressure staff to spend the money quickly, even though you don't have good controls.
- Hire staff quickly without checking references and do not bother with any induction. If you want to put expatriates in senior management positions, keep them on short contracts. That way, they will not have to worry about the longer-term results of their decisions, such as not keeping financial records. That is for the accountant to worry about - if there is one.
- Do not worry if reporting lines are unclear, tasks are poorly specified or incoming staff clash with existing staff. Ensure that finance staff do not share any information with logistics and programme staff.
- Impose inappropriate financial procedures with no option allowed for local commercial practices and circumstances. Try to enforce a 200 page manual available only in English, which no-one has been trained to use.
- Finally, as programme manager, do not worry about actually visiting distributions, building sites and warehouses. Your emails from head office take priority, and the reports you receive from the field (and pass on) will tell you all you will ever know - until the donor's auditors arrive.