Russellville Electric Board: Can Officers Define "Embezzlement?"

 

Small Business Trends lists 25 definitions of embezzlement; this is one of them:

Using a Company Credit Card For Personal Use

The employee pays for personal expenses using a company credit card. The good news is, often these thefts are sporadic and the amounts are small.

However, what if the same employee also manages the accounting system and realizes no one but her pays attention?  Using a company credit card for personal use can turn into massive embezzlement examples when combined with falsified accounting records.

Yet this crime is often nebulous. How do you define legitimate business expenses? We'll present our take on a recent Russellville Electric Board charge.

Executive Slip R. Slope with the Acme Widget Company schedules a business conference in Monte Carlo (or is that Gulf Shores?). Well, did you expect him to schedule one held in Frog Pond? Obviously, he and his female companion (hopefully his wife) can't be expected to dine at McDonald's or lodge at the Snug as a Bedbug Inn. Such expenses are often relative and quasi-ethical.

But wait...Mr. Slope and his fair companion will have some down time. Will they be spending it at the local library or the local beach? It's their choice; if they want to go to the beach, but don't have any proper attire, is it the stockholders' (or taxpayers') place to fund these glad rags?

The entry highlighted in yellow is a payment of almost one thousand dollars to LL Boutique in California, a company specializing in beachwear:

You taxpayers in the City of Russellville purchasing anything like that to wear at Sloss Lake? So how do you feel if your electric board is using city funds to purchase these "handerchiefs" for business trips? Please explain how this is justified. Also ask the board how that proposed rise in rates is justified? We'll wait for their answers...

Alabama Ethics Complaints